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 [3H]oxytocin binding sites among various subcellular fractions of rat myometrium paralleled the distribution of 5'-nucleotidase, a plasma membrane marker enzyme, but not of NADPH-cytochrome c reductase or succinate-cytochrome c reductase, which are endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondrial marker enzymes respectively. [3H]Oxytocin binding to the most enriched plasma membrane fraction showed the degree of selectivity with respect to hormone analogues that is expected for the oxytocin receptor. The binding of oxytocin to this fraction showed an apparent Kd of 1.98 X 10(-9) M and a capacity of 1.28 pmol mg-1. It is concluded that the oxytocin receptor is located on the plasma membrane of the smooth muscle cells of the rat uterus.
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PMID:Localization of the oxytocin receptor in the plasma membrane of rat myometrium. 20 28

Sheep corpus luteum homogenates were fractionated by centrifugation on continuous sucrose density gradients, with or without digitonin, and gradient fractions were assayed for progesterone, and for a range of intracellular organelle and plasma-membrane markers. Digitonin had little effect on the density distributions of mitochondrial, rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) and Golgi-endoplasmic reticulum-lysosomal (GERL) membranes. However, digitonin did disrupt lysosomal membranes, leading to release of acid hydrolases, and induced a decrease in buoyant density of NADH-cytochrome c reductase, a putative smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) marker. Oxytocin-containing granules were clearly resolved from other organelles accumulating in a sharp peak (density, 1.20 g/cm3). Luteal cell-surface membrane marker activities equilibrated at similar buoyant densities in control gradients, and pretreatment with digitonin induced a marked increase in their buoyant densities. The majority of the progesterone of the sheep corpus luteum equilibrated at a buoyant density of 1.10 g/cm3 in control gradients, and was highly perturbed by digitonin. These fractions also accumulated [3H]progesterone. The buoyant density profile of progesterone in both control and digitonin-treated gradients most closely resembled that of sheep luteal lactogenic receptor, a putative plasma-membrane marker.
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PMID:Subcellular fractionation of the ovine corpus luteum: association of progesterone with ovine luteal membranes? 319 18

Using the immunohistochemical localization of the protein product of the immediate early gene, c-fos, to localize activated neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), we studied the chemical phenotypes of neurons activated by circulating angiotensin II (AII). We determined the proportions of activated PVN neurons that expressed AII type I receptor-like immunoreactivity (AT1-L) or the neurohormones vasopressin (VP) and oxytocin (OXY). In addition, we identified activated PVN neurons that putatively produce nitric oxide (NO) on the basis of histochemical staining for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-d). Conscious rats received intravenous AII infusions at a rate sufficient to elevate mean arterial pressure by 40-60 mmHg for 90 min; control rats received infusions of vehicle. Brains were prepared for double immunohistochemistry [Fos-like immunoreactivity (FLI)/AT1-L, FLI/VP or FLI/OXY] or FLI/ NADPH-d histochemistry. Systemic AII infusions led to activation of 149+/-14 PVN neurons per section. In contrast, control animals showed activation of 21+/-6 PVN neurons per section. AII infusions elicited the activation of the following numbers of chemically identified PVN neurons per section: AT1-L, 24+/-5; VP, 26+/-5; OXY, 11+/-2; NADPH-d, 22+/-4. Control animals had few activated PVN neurons per section. For each of the chemically identified populations of PVN neurons, the following proportions were activated: AT1-L, 12.5%; VP, 15.2%; OXY, 7.2%; NADPH-d, 17.3%. The results suggest that PVN neurons producing the AT1 receptor, VP, OXY, and NO, participate in the mediation of the central responses to circulating AII.
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PMID:Activation by systemic angiotensin II of neurochemically identified neurons in rat hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus. 968 48

Staining for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-d), a histochemical marker for nitric oxide synthase (NOS), is increased in the supraoptic (SON) and paraventricular (PVN) nuclei in late pregnant rats. To determine whether increases in staining were evident at other times during pregnancy and lactation the number of cells that stained for NADPH-d in the SON and PVN in rats on days 4, 12, 16, and 22 of pregnancy and on days 4, 12, and 20 of lactation was compared to that in virgin females. In a second experiment the influence of ovarian hormones on NADPH-d staining was assessed by comparing staining in the SON and PVN among ovariectomized animals exposed to either a steroid hormone replacement schedule that mimics late pregnancy (oestrogen and progesterone with progesterone removal), oestrogen alone, oestrogen and progesterone, or cholesterol alone. In the last experiment of this series staining was compared among ovariectomized animals given either oestrogen or cholesterol priming accompanied by oxytocin (OT) or vehicle infusion into the third ventricle for 7 days. The number of cells showing dense staining for NADPH-d in both the SON and PVN increased on days 12 and 22 of pregnancy and 4 and 12 of lactation compared to that observed in virgins. NADPH-d staining in these areas was also increased by both the steroid treatment that mimicked late pregnancy and chronic central OT infusion in oestrogen-primed animals. These data suggest that NADPH-d staining in the SON and PVN is increased at times when oxytocinergic cells are known to be active and that the hormonal state associated with late pregnancy is sufficient to increase NADPH-d staining.
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PMID:Changes in NADPH-d staining in the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei during pregnancy and lactation in rats: role of ovarian steroids and oxytocin. 991 29

We have studied the organization of the hypothalamus in an Australian diprotodontid metatherian mammal, the wallaby ( Macropus eugenii), using cytoarchitectural, histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques. Coronal sections of adult brains were processed for Nissl staining, histochemical reactivity (cytochrome oxidase, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase and acetylcholinesterase) and immunohistochemistry (antibodies to tyrosine hydroxylase, calbindin, calretinin, non-phosphorylated neurofilament protein, oxytocin and vasopressin). The distribution of immunoreactive neurons for these substances was mapped with the aid of a computer-linked microscope. In general, the wallaby hypothalamus showed a similar nuclear organization to that seen in rodents. The paraventricular nucleus could be divided into several subdivisions based on the different cellular parcellation, similar to that described in rodents. The ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus had cell-sparse dorsomedial and cell-dense ventrolateral subdivisions as seen in eutheria, suggesting a similar functional compartmentalization in all theria. The positions of tyrosine hydroxylase-positive neurons in the wallaby hypothalamus were also similar to those in eutheria. Oxytocin and vasopressinergic neurons were found in all the same major nuclear groups as seen in eutheria, although a nucleus circularis could not be identified. The general similarities between wallaby and eutherian hypothalamus indicate that the basic chemo- and cytoarchitectural features of the hypothalamus are common to eutheria and metatheria and validate the use of the wallaby as a mammalian model of wide applicability in investigations of hypothalamic functional development.
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PMID:Cyto- and chemoarchitecture of the hypothalamus of a wallaby ( Macropus eugenii) with special emphasis on oxytocin and vasopressinergic neurons. 1451 76

Many histochemical investigations indicated that the oxytocin (OXY), the arginine vasopressin (AVP) and the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) have been synthesized in the supraoptic nucleus (SON) neurons. The objective of this study was to examine the age-related expression of the OXY, the AVP and the NOS in the SON of the young adult (2-month-old) and the aged (24-month-old) rats. The histochemistry for reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-d; marker for the NOS) and the double labeling histochemistry for the OXY/NADPH-d or the AVP/NADPH-d were employed, and the quantitative analysis was performed with a computer-assisted image processing system. In comparison of the young adult and the aged group, the cell number, the cell size and the reactive density of the NOS-expressing neurons showed a significant increase along with age, and these evidences suggested the age-related increase of the nitric oxide (NO) production. The age-related significant increase was not detected in the number of the OXY/NOS-expressing neurons in the dorsal part, but was detected in the number of the AVP/NOS-expressing neurons in the ventral part. Based on our histochemical findings and reports demonstrated by other authors, we attempted to discuss the physiological role of NOS for the secretion of posterior pituitary hormones along with age.
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PMID:Age-related changes in oxytocin-, arginine vasopressin- and nitric oxide synthase-expressing neurons in the supraoptic nucleus of the rat. 1642 42

The topographic ontogeny of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) within the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the rat hypothalamus was studied by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-diaphorase (NADPH-diaphorase) histochemistry. At Day 1 of postnatal life (P1), NOS-positive neurons were already present and achieved their maturity (in terms of perikarya number and dendritic arborization) about the time of weaning (P21). Across all ages studied (P1 to adulthood), intense NADPH-diaphorase staining was primarily confined within magnocellular cells of the PVN largely characterized by medium-sized (12-15 mum in diameter), ovoid bipolar neurons with prominent clear nuclei. To identify the neurosecretory cells of the adult PVN in which NOS was present, double-labeling studies were carried out via fluorescent immunocytochemistry. Magnocellular oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP), as well as parvocellular corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), were found to be colocalized with NOS. However, colocalization occurred significantly more frequently in OT-containing neurons, relative to AVP- or CRF-positive cells. Most of the colocalization occurring between NOS and OT was observed in the rostral constituent of the magnocellular subdivision of the PVN, as opposed to a more caudal defined PVN. To provide a distribution comparison of OT, AVP, and CRF to that of NOS in the adult PVN, in situ hybridization was carried out with (35)S-cRNA antisense probes for the aforementioned neuropeptides. The results obtained with this evaluation were correlated with NOS histochemistry in the same brain sections. As expected, specific labeling was observed for all three neuroactive substances over their topographically distinctive nuclei. Among these nuclei, labeling by the OT cRNA probe provided the closest topographical correlation of hybridized signal over NOS perikarya, thus reinforcing the tenet that a relatively small population of OT nerve cells are concurrently colocalized with the enzyme. Taken together, these results indicate that NOS is present in the PVN of the rat at all postnatal ages which we tested. They also indicate that among neurosecretory cells of the PVN, only OT prominently shared with NOS the same common nerve cell type. This suggests that NOS neurons may represent a distinct neuropil group among multiple neuroactive nuclei in the neuroendocrine hypothalamus. Finally, we demonstrate that NADPH-diaphorase histochemistry can be easily combined with immunocytochemical and in situ hybridization procedures to evaluate the colocalization and topographical distribution of NOS with other phenotypic neurons in the mammalian central nervous system.
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PMID:Ontogeny of the rat hypothalamic nitric oxide synthase and colocalization with neuropeptides. 1991 18