Nuclear organization of cholinergic, putative catecholaminergic, serotonergic and orexinergic systems in the brain of the African pygmy mouse (Mus minutoides): Organizational complexity is preserved in small brains

This study investigated the nuclear organization of four immunohistochemically identifiable neural systems (cholinergic, catecholaminergic, serotonergic and orexinergic) within the brain of the African pygmy mouse (Mus minutoides). The African pygmy mice studied had a brain mass of around 275 mg, making these the smallest rodent brains to date in which these neural systems have been investigated. In contrast to the assumption that in this small brain there would be fewer subdivisions of these neural systems, we found that all nuclei generally observed for these systems in other rodent brains were also present in the brain of the African pygmy mouse. As with other rodents previously studied in the subfamily Murinae, we observed the presence of cortical cholinergic neurons and a compactly organized locus coeruleus. These two features of these systems have not been observed in the non-Murinae rodents studied to date. Thus, the African pygmy mouse displays what might be considered a typical Murinae brain organization, and despite its small size, the brain does not appear to be any less complexly organized than other rodent brains, even those that are over 100 times larger such as the Cape porcupine brain. The results are consistent with the notion that changes in brain size do not affect the evolution of nuclear organization of complex neural systems. Thus, species belonging to the same order generally have the same number and complement of the subdivisions, or nuclei, of specific neural systems despite differences in brain size, phenotype or time since evolutionary divergence.

► The nuclear organization of four neural systems are described in the brain of the African pygmy mouse, the smallest rodent brain studied to date.
► Within this species, the organization of the neural systems is almost identical to other rodent brains, even those with brains over 100 times larger.
► Two aspects of the African pygmy mouse brain, the cortical cholinergic neurons and the compact locus coeruleus, align this species with other members of the Murid family to the exclusion of all other rodent species.