Galanin immunoreactivity within the primate basal forebrain: Evolutionary change between monkeys and apes

Galanin immunoreactivity (GAL-ir) is differentially expressed within the basal forebrain of monkeys and humans. Most monkey magnocellular basal forebrain neurons colocalize GAL-ir. In contrast, virtually no human magnocellular basal forebrain neurons express GAL-ir. Rather, an extrinsic galaninergic fiber plexus innervates these neurons in humans. The present study examined the expression of GAL-ir within the basal forebrain of apes to establish the phylogenetic level at which this transformation occurs. The staining patterns of GAL-ir within the basal forebrain of both lesser (gibbons) and great (chimpanzee and gorilla) apes were compared to that previously observed within monkeys and humans. All apes displayed a pattern of basal forebrain GAL-ir indistinguishable from humans. GAL-ir was not expressed within ape basal forebrain magnocellular neurons as seen in monkeys. Rather like humans, a dense collection of GAL-ir fibers was seen in close apposition to magnocellular perikarya. In addition, a few GAL-ir parvicellular neurons were scattered within the ape basal forebrain. These data indicate that the evolutionary change in the expression of GAL-ir within the primate basal forebrain occurs at the branch point of monkeys and apes.