Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01178 (oxytocin)
 15,767 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The distribution of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) was analysed in perikarya of the mink hypothalamus with immunohistochemistry and, surprisingly, a large population of magnocellular VIP-immunoreactive neurons was present in the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei as well as in accessory hypothalamic nuclei. From perikarya in the paraventricular as well as supraoptic nuclei, a large number of VIP immunoreactive nerve fibers was observed to enter the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial tract. Within the median eminence, a high density of VIP-immunoreactive nerve fibers was present in the external and internal zones. Fibers in the external zone of the median eminence were endowed with varicosities and perivascular terminals, while fibers in the internal zone were smooth and without terminal specializations. From the internal zone of the median eminence, fibers coursed via the infundibular stalk to terminate in perivascularly situated terminals in the neurohypophysis. In addition, a substantial number of small VIP-immunoreactive perikarya was observed within the suprachiasmatic nucleus. These perikarya were immunoreactive to neither vasopressin nor neurophysin. To elucidate the co-existence of VIP-immunoreactivity with vasopressin, oxytocin or neurophysin, a sequential double immunoperoxidase procedure to localize antigens with diaminobenzidine and benzidine dihydrochloride as chromagens was performed. From these experiments it was evident that VIP in nearly all magnocellular hypothalamo-neurohypophysial neurons co-existed with neurophysin. Based on a semi-quantitative estimate, half the VIP-immunoreactive magnocellular perikarya co-stored vasopressin, while another half co-stored oxytoxin. The present study describes the presence of a large population of VIP-containing neurons in the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system of the mink. These findings raise evidence that within the mink, VIP may be involved in neurohypophysial physiology.
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PMID:Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in magnocellular neurons of the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system of the mink (Mustela vision) is co-localized with vasopressin or oxytocin. 147 74

The anterograde Phaseolus vulgaris-leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) tracing technique was used to determine the distribution of efferent fibers originating in the lateral septal nucleus of the guinea pig. For complementary detection of the chemical identity of the target neurons, double-labeling immunocytochemistry was performed with antibodies to PHA-L and to vasopressin, oxytocin, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, serotonin or dopamine beta-hydroxylase, respectively. The hypothalamus received the majority of the PHA-L-stained septofugal fibers. Here, a specific topography was observed. (1) The medial and lateral preoptic area, (2) the anterior, lateral, dorsal, posterior hypothalamic and retrochiasmatic area, (3) the supraoptic, paraventricular, suprachiasmatic, dorsomedial, caudal ventromedial and arcuate nuclei, and (4) the tuberomammillary, medial and lateral supramammillary, dorsal and ventral premammillary nuclei always contained PHA-L-labeled fibers. The rostral portion of the ventromedial nucleus and the medial and lateral mammillary nucleus only occasionally showed weak terminal labeling. In other diencephalic areas, termination of PHA-L-labeled fibers was observed in the epithalamus and the nuclei of the midline region of the thalamus. In the mesencephalon, terminal varicosities occurred in the ventral tegmental area, interfascicular and interpeduncular nucleus, and periaqueductal gray. In addition, the dorsal and medial raphe nuclei of the metencephalon, together with the locus coeruleus and the dorsal tegmental nucleus, received lateral septal efferents.
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PMID:The efferent connections of the lateral septal nucleus in the guinea pig: projections to the diencephalon and brainstem. 186 17

Our study investigates the distribution of neurophysins (Nph), proteins that are part of the precursors for vasopressin and oxytocin, and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in the human brainstem by immunohistochemistry. Both peptides were found in discrete regions of the human hindbrain. Nph could be demonstrated exclusively in fibers and punctate perineural varicosities that were travelling within the mesencephalic central gray, substantia nigra, as well as locus coeruleus, medial longitudinal fascicle, raphe, nucleus of the solitary tract, lateral reticular nucleus and area postrema. A few varicosities were seen in the substantia gelatinosa of the spinal trigeminal tract and its continuation into the dorsal horn of the cervical spinal cord. In contrast to these observations. CGRP-immunoreactive fibers were found to be densest in the spinal tract of the trigeminal nerve and the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. In addition, fibers and varicosities could be demonstrated in numerous distinct brain regions, such as locus coeruleus and subcoeruleus, solitary tract, cuneate nucleus, raphe and periaqueductal gray. CGRP-immunoreactivity was also present in perikarya in the ventral horn of the spinal cord, as well as motor nuclei of cranial nerves, i.e., hypoglossal nucleus, ambiguous nucleus. Our results suggest that Nph-immunoreactivity in the human brainstem may be present predominantly within long fiber projections from hypothalamic neurosecretory nuclei, in analogy to data obtained from rodents, whereas CGRP may play a role in the branchiomotor system as well as in intrinsic or extrinsic projections involved in autonomic regulation and integration of sensory information.
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PMID:Immunohistochemical mapping of neurophysins and calcitonin gene-related peptide in the human brainstem and cervical spinal cord. 193 Jul 49

The paraventricular nucleus (PVH) of the hypothalamus is a key region for the integration of the autonomic and neuroendocrine mechanisms. This integration becomes less reliable with age. Some critical functions, such as eating and drinking, body-temperature regulation, autonomic and endocrine responses which regulate the cardiovascular system seem to be particularly affected by the aging-related processes. In this paper, we analysed by means of immunocytochemistry the neurochemical organization of the magnocellular and parvocellular component of the PVH in old male rats. The main results concerning the neurohormones and the carrier proteins are the following: a significant decrease in the number of the oxytocin- (OXY) like immunoreactive neurons of the medial and lateral parvocellular nuclei; a decrease in the vasopressin- (VAS) like immunoreactive neurons of the medial and lateral parvocellular nuclei and also of the medial magnocellular nucleus; a decrease in the neurophysin- (NRP) like immunoreactive neurons of the lateral parvocellular nucleus. We also found a decrease in the mean area of magnocellular OXY- and VAS-like immunoreactive neurons, a decrease in the extension of the dendritic tree sampled in the medial part of the nucleus; a decrease in the number of varicosities along the neurons coming from the PVH, and in the density of axons in the median eminence and in the vagal complex. The NRP-like immunoreactive structures in the substantia gelatinosa of the spinal cord of old rats were also decreased in respect to younger adult animals. Among the neuropeptides investigated (corticotropin-releasing factor, leu-enkephalin, somatostatin, cholecystokinin and neurotensin) we found a decrease in the leu-enkephalin-like immunoreactive neurons of the dorsal and medial parvocellular nuclei. Our data support--from a morphological point of view--the existence of involution processes in the neurochemical organization of the PVH during aging.
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PMID:Influence of aging on the neurochemical organization of the rat paraventricular nucleus. 236 52

Immunoreactive galanin-like material was recently shown to co-exist with vasopressin in parvocellular and magnocellular perikarya of the paraventricular nucleus in the anterior hypothalamus of the rat (Melander et al. 1986). Since this distribution pattern differed from our observation of oxytocin-associated galanin-like immunoreactivity (LI) in the neurohypophysis, we compared in series of 0.5-microns thick sections the localisation of galanin-LI with the localisation of oxytocin and vasopressin/dynorphin in the hypothalamus, the median eminence and the neurohypophysis. In the oxytocin system, galanin-LI was intense in oxytocin varicosities of the neurohypophysis. Oxytocin perikarya of the hypothalamic supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei exhibited galanin-LI only after intraventricular injection of colchicine and when sections were treated with trypsin prior to application of the antibody. In the vasopressin/dynorphin system galanin-LI was intense in hypothalamic perikarya after colchicine injection and in neurohypophysial varicosities after treatment of the sections with trypsin. In these neurones, galanin-LI was absent or weak in all elements when treatments with colchicine or trypsin were omitted. Galanin-LI in the neurohypophysis was not co-localised with the numerous fine endings showing GABA-LI. These observations indicate that galanin-like material coexists with vasopressin and oxytocin in the respective magnocellular neurones, although not always in an immunoreactive form.
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PMID:Immunoreactive galanin-like material in magnocellular hypothalamo-neurohypophysial neurones of the rat. 247 16

The cytoarchitecture and immunocytochemical distribution of neuropeptides (corticotropin-releasing factor, CRF; neuropeptide Y, NPY; oxytocin, OXY; vasopressin, VP; and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, VIP) were studied in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) in male and female ground squirrels of two species (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus and S. richardsonii). Immunoreactive (IR) perikarya were found in sections incubated with VP or VIP antisera. VP-IR cell bodies were seen in the dorsal and medial parts of the nucleus in colchicine-treated animals. IR fibers were distributed throughout the SCN. In the ventral part of the nucleus, VIP-IR cells were seen in untreated animals and were more pronounced in colchicine-treated animals. VIP-IR fibers and terminals form a dense plexus throughout the nucleus. Furthermore, NPY-IR terminals and fibers with multiple varicosities, but no IR perikarya, were present in the suprachiasmatic nuclei. Within the borders of the SCN, no cell bodies or fibers were stained with CRF or OXY antisera in any animal.
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PMID:Immunohistochemical evidence for the presence of neuropeptides in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus of ground squirrels. 258 47

A freeze-drying technique using epoxy-embedded ultrathin serial sections permits critical comparisons of neuropeptides in small fibers and varicosities of the nervous system by video-enhanced, light microscopic immunofluorescence. The desirability of the method was documented by data showing: retention of radioimmunoassayable somatostatin in freeze-substituted blocks of tissue as compared to its loss in tissue dehydrated in an alcohol series; feasibility of OsO4 vapor fixation of freeze-dried tissue and compatibility with neuropeptide immunocytochemistry, and utility of a silicon-intensified-tube video camera for recording low levels of fluorescence from ultrathin sections. Ultrathin serial sections, 150 nm thick, from the inner zone of freeze-dried median eminence of the cat revealed three populations of axons containing various combinations of neurophysin immunoreactivity and enkephalin immunoreactivity. Some elements contained neurophysin immunoreactivity alone, some contained both neurophysin immunoreactivity and enkephalin immunoreactivity, and a few elements contained enkephalin immunoreactivity alone. The adjacent external zone of the median eminence contained immunoreactivity for all three substances, but the structures in this region were too small to permit demonstration of coexistence in 150 nm thick sections.
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PMID:Video-enhanced technique for detecting neurophysin, enkephalin, and somatostatin immunoreactivity in ultrathin sections of cat median eminence. 287 21

We addressed in this study, with immunocytochemical methods, the following questions: are immunoreactive enkephalins in the rat neurohypophysis stored in nerves distinct from neurosecretory nerves; where is [Met]enkephalin immunoreaction localized; does immunoreactive [Leu]enkephalin coexist with pro-enkephalin or with pro-dynorphin fragments; and are the interpretations of localization studies influenced by the choice of pre-embedding or post-embedding immunocytochemical techniques? We compared immunoreactions due to antibodies which had been used by others in previous studies, examined both lyophilized and conventionally fixed specimens, and applied pre- and post-embedding protocols. Both pre- and post-embedding stainings confirmed co-storage of immunoreactive dynorphin(1-8)-like materials with vasopressin. Immunoreactive [Met]enkephalin-like material always coexisted with oxytocin. Most of the immunoreactive [Leu]enkephalin-like material appeared to occur in oxytocin nerves; only in larger vasopressin varicosities was there some dot-like [Leu]enkephalin immunoreaction. This indicates that neural lobe [Leu]enkephalin predominantly is cleaved from a precursor which also contains [Met]enkephalin. When pre-embedding methods were modified in order to block diffusion and to enhance penetration of antibodies, enkephalin immunoreactivity was always found in typical neurosecretory varicosities with large granules. Structures previously interpreted as enkephalinergic nerve terminals contacting pituicytes most likely are neurosecretory varicosities.
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PMID:A re-examination of the localization of immunoreactive dynorphin(1-8), [Leu]enkephalin and [Met]enkephalin in the rat neurohypophysis. 288 79

Synaptic organization of the intermediolateral nucleus of the guinea pig thoracic spinal cord was examined with particular focus on monoamine- and peptide-containing nerve terminals. Axon varicosities having flat synaptic vesicles constituted 17% of all axons in the nucleus and formed exclusively symmetric synapses. Enkephalin-, substance P-, somatostatin-, 5-hydroxytryptamine-, and catecholamine-immunoreactive nerve terminals were densely distributed, while neurotensin, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-, oxytocin-, and cholecystokinin-8-immunoreactive nerves were sparse in the nucleus. Coexistence of 5-hydroxytryptamine and enkephalin was demonstrated, and coexistence of somatostatin and enkephalin as well as somatostatin and 5-hydroxytryptamine in the same axons was also shown by serial semithin sections. Catecholamine axons labelled by 5-hydroxydopamine formed axodendritic and axosomatic synapses and made direct synaptic contacts on the preganglionic sympathetic neurons identified by retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase. Direct synaptic contacts from enkephalin- and substance P-immunoreactive axons to preganglionic sympathetic neurons were also revealed. Enkephalin-, substance P-, and 5-hydroxytryptamine-immunoreactive axons formed axodendritic and axosomatic synapses. Catecholamine axon varicosities constituted 19% of all axon varicosities in the nucleus and 30% of them showed synaptic specializations in a sectional plane. Axon varicosities immunoreactive to enkephalin, 5-hydroxytryptamine, and substance P constituted approximately 35, 19, and 13% of all axon varicosities, respectively, while those with synaptic contacts made up 27, 30, and 26%, respectively, in a sectional plane. Enkephalin-, 5-hydroxytryptamine-, and noradrenaline-immunoreactive axons showed mainly symmetric synaptic contacts.
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PMID:Synaptic structure of the monoamine and peptide nerve terminals in the intermediolateral nucleus of the guinea pig thoracic spinal cord. 288 97

In this study we examined the hypothesis that the intermediolateral cell column (IML) of the thoracic spinal cord, the nucleus from which preganglionic sympathetic neurons originate, provides an anatomical substrate through which selective regulation of sympathetic nervous system targets is accomplished. Preganglionic sympathetic neurons of rats were retrogradely labeled by the simultaneous exposure of the cervical sympathetic trunk (CST) and the adrenal medulla to Fluoro-Gold and True blue, contrasting fluorescent dyes. Retrograde labeling from these sites revealed 2 populations of sympathetic preganglionic neurons in IML whose distribution overlapped between segments T1 and T4. In regions where these 2 groups of retrogradely labeled neurons overlapped, sympathoadrenal preganglionic (SAP) neurons occupied the most lateral aspect of the nucleus. It was also determined whether individual retrogradely labeled neurons within these two groups sent axon collaterals to both the CST and adrenal medulla. Diamidino yellow, a fluorescent retrograde tracer dye that labels only nuclei, was substituted for Fluoro-Gold and used in combination with True blue to simultaneously label preganglionic sympathetic neurons projecting to either the CST or adrenal medulla. No double-labeled cell bodies were observed in spinal cords of rats treated in this manner. Thus it appeared that the efferent projections of these 2 cell populations in IML were target-specific. Immunohistochemical analysis of the relationship between nerve fibers in the IML and preganglionic sympathetic neurons was also undertaken in an attempt to classify further these 2 populations of sympathetic preganglionic neurons. Equal proportions of identified CST and SAP neurons appeared to be apposed by varicosities immunoreactive for either somatostatin or serotonin. On the other hand, when the comparison was based on whether oxytocin-immunoreactive varicosities appeared to appose these 2 populations of retrogradely labeled sympathetic neurons, a highly significant difference was revealed. That is, oxytocin-immunoreactive fibers and terminals appeared to avoid SAP neurons. Thus these data support the hypothesis that an anatomical substrate exists in spinal cord IML whereby selective regulation of sympathetic nervous system targets may be mediated. Moreover, the lack of oxytocin-immunoreactive varicosities apposing SAP neurons in IML suggests that if the paraventricular nucleus innervates SAP neurons in IML, it does so via a population of neurons that do not use oxytocin as a neurotransmitter.
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PMID:The intermediolateral cell column of the thoracic spinal cord is comprised of target-specific subnuclei: evidence from retrograde transport studies and immunohistochemistry. 289 66


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