Figure 5.

Domoic acid damage to brain assessed by cupric-silver histochemistry and viewed at three levels of magnification. Domoic acid degenerated neuronal elements are stained black via cupric-silver degeneration stain which is an advantageous method because it can be viewed at three levels of organization (full coronal section, specific brain regions and cellular detail). Degenerated pathways at the full coronal section can been seen throughout the ammon’s horn of the hippocampus (left) and limbic regions of the hippocampus, septum and olfactory bulb (center). At the cellular level, affected cell bodies appear as large black regions normally associated with terminal debris Axons appear as thin filamentous strands and were typically distal to the regions where labeled cell bodies appeared. Degenerated terminals are identified as small pinpoints, often associated with the cell bodies.