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)

An immunocytochemical analysis with 33 antisera was undertaken to investigate the localization of 25 different neurotransmitter-related antigens in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus in the rat. To obtain estimates of relative densities of immunoreactive axons a stereological approach was used involving counting of intersections of immunoreactive axons with a superimposed semi-circle test grid. All neurotransmitter-related antigens found in perikarya within the suprachiasmatic nucleus, including those stained with antisera against bombesin, gastrin-releasing peptide, neurophysin, vasopressin, somatostatin, gamma-aminobutyrate, glutamate decarboxylase and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide were also found in axons within the nucleus. A greater number of these immunoreactive axons was found within the nucleus than in the adjacent anterior hypothalamus. The size of all immunoreactive axons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus was consistently small; immunoreactive axons were found ramifying widely in the nucleus, often ending with terminal boutons near perikarya immunoreactive for the same antigen. All neurotransmitter-related substances found in perikarya of the suprachiasmatic nucleus were also found in axons crossing over the midline to innervate the contralateral nucleus, providing an anatomical substrate for a high degree of communication between the paired nuclei. Axons immunoreactive for other putative transmitters including serotonin arising outside the nucleus were also found in high densities within the nucleus and crossing over the midline between the nuclei. Immunoreactivity for some transmitters was found in axons of similar densities within and outside the nucleus, including antisera against tyrosine hydroxylase; a small number of dopamine beta-hydroxylase and a few phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase-immunoreactive axons were found in the SCN, suggesting that dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine may occur in a limited number of axons in the nucleus. Small numbers of axons immunoreactive with antisera raised against cholecystokinin, prolactin, substance P, thyrotropin-releasing hormone and choline acetyltransferase were found within the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Axons immunoreactive for luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone and neurotensin were rarely found within the suprachiasmatic nucleus; axons immunoreactive for luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, cholecystokinin and tyrosine hydroxylase were found in both horizontal and coronal sections in the area between the left and right suprachiasmatic nuclei.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Neurotransmitters of the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus: immunocytochemical analysis of 25 neuronal antigens. 241 88

An ultrastructural immunocytochemical study was undertaken to identify neuroactive substances contained in presynaptic boutons in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus. Axonal boutons containing immunoreactive gamma-aminobutyrate, glutamate decarboxylase, neurophysin/vasopressin, gastrin releasing peptide/bombesin, somatostatin and serotonin were localized within the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus with pre-embedding peroxidase immunostaining. Synaptic contacts were found between boutons containing each of these substances and postsynaptic structures. While some variation in synaptic morphology existed, most of the immunoreactive contacts were of the symmetrical type. Previous work has indicated that neuroactive peptides may be found in highest concentrations in dense-core vesicles, to examine the subcellular localization of the amino acid inhibitory transmitter gamma-aminobutyrate, ultrastructural immunocytochemistry with pre-embedding peroxidase was compared with post-embedding immunocytochemistry with colloidal gold. Ultracryothin sections were also used for ultrastructural localization of gamma-aminobutyrate and glutamate decarboxylase immunoreactivity. Both gamma-aminobutyrate and glutamate decarboxylase immunoreactivity were found throughout the cytoplasm of immunoreactive boutons when pre-embedding peroxidase was used; with post-embedding colloidal gold immunostaining, label was found over areas containing small clear vesicles, and over mitochondria of immunoreactive axons. At the dilutions used in this study, strongly immunoreactive gamma-aminobutyrate dendrites, boutons forming asymmetrical synapses, and cell bodies were not found. Differences between pre-embedding and post-embedding immunostaining may be due to antigen and label diffusion caused by mild fixation and membrane damage necessary for antisera penetration during pre-embedding immunostaining. These results suggest that gamma-aminobutyrate, gastrin releasing peptide, somatostatin and vasopressin are contained in axons making contact with neurons of the suprachiasmatic nucleus, and may function as neurotransmitters here. Since all of these substances can also be localized in perikarya within the suprachiasmatic nucleus, there is a strong possibility that at least some of the axons containing immunoreactivity for each of these substances may be involved in local circuit interactions between neurons within the suprachiasmatic nucleus.
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PMID:Gamma-aminobutyrate, gastrin releasing peptide, serotonin, somatostatin, and vasopressin: ultrastructural immunocytochemical localization in presynaptic axons in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. 242 91

Antisera specific for gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) or its biosynthetic enzyme, glutamate decarboxylase, were used in pre- and postembedding immunocytochemical techniques at the light and electron microscopic levels, to visualize the GABAergic innervation of the hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus. Immunostaining for glutamate decarboxylase or gamma-aminobutyric acid were also combined with oxytocin and vasopressin immunolocalization, thereby permitting evaluation of the contribution of the innervation onto each type of neuron in this nucleus. Light microscopy of semithin plastic sections or vibratome slices stained for glutamate decarboxylase or gamma-aminobutyric acid, with peroxidase-antiperoxidase as immunolabel, revealed an extensive punctate labeling in the supraoptic nucleus and its immediate surroundings. Quantitative analysis of glutamate decarboxylase immunostaining in semithin sections indicated a comparable density of immunopositive punctae at the anterior and posterior levels of the nucleus (14-27 X 10(6) per mm3 tissue). Glutamate decarboxylase- or gamma-aminobutyric acid-immunoreactive cell bodies were never observed within the nucleus although they were detected in the hypothalamus immediately dorsolateral to the nucleus. Electron microscopy of vibratome slices treated with antiglutamate decarboxylase or antigamma-aminobutyric acid and peroxidase-antiperoxidase, or of ultrathin sections stained directly with antigamma-aminobutyric acid and immunoglobulin-coupled colloidal gold, showed that the immuno-reactive punctae represented, in the main, axonal terminals. They invariably contained small, rounded clear vesicles and, at times, one or two larger, dense cored vesicles; they all formed symmetrical synapses onto magnocellular cell bodies and dendrites. Oxytocin and vasopressin neurons were contacted in a similar fashion by glutamate decarboxylase- or gamma-aminobutyric acid-positive boutons in semithin sections of the nucleus stained simultaneously for glutamate decarboxylase and oxytocin and in ultrathin sections stained for glutamate decarboxylase or gamma-aminobutyric acid and oxytocin or vasopressin. Glutamate decarboxylase- or gamma-aminobutyric acid-positive terminals often formed synapses onto two postsynaptic elements in the same plane of section ("double" synapses), a synaptic configuration usually encountered in supraoptic nuclei of lactating animals. In such cases, the postsynaptic somata were oxytocinergic.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Immunocytochemical analysis of the GABAergic innervation of oxytocin- and vasopressin-secreting neurons in the rat supraoptic nucleus. 353 41

To study the morphological substrate for interaction between two chemically distinct neuronal types, two double ultrastructural immunolabeling strategies were employed. In the first, two different electron-dense markers were used to examine simultaneously two different neurotransmitter-related antigens in the hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus in the same thin section. Results obtained with the first method were confirmed with a second approach based on postembedding immunostaining of alternate serial thin sections with different antisera. Antiserum against glutamate decarboxylase, the enzyme responsible for the synthesis of the inhibitory amino acid transmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), or antisera against GABA, was used to localize immunoreactive axons in the hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus. With light microscopy, glutamate decarboxylase- and GABA-immunoreactive axon terminals immunostained with peroxidase were found arborizing throughout all areas of the nucleus; terminal boutons were found adjacent to unlabeled somata within the nucleus. Cells containing immunoreactive oxytocin, vasopressin, and neurophysin were localized with peroxidase. Glutamate decarboxylase-immunoreactive axons stained with peroxidase prior to embedding in plastic were demonstrated to contact neurons which contained vesicles immunostained with neurophysin antiserum by a post-embedding immunocytochemical procedure which used immunoglobulins or protein A adsorbed to colloidal gold as a second ultrastructural marker. Quantitative evaluation of post-embedding staining with colloidal gold using a neurophysin primary antiserum indicated a specific antigen localization in neurosecretory vesicles. A critical factor in this double-labeling paradigm was that immunological reagents used in the second series did not cross-react with those used in the first series, regardless of the species of origin of antisera. To provide further verification of GABAergic synapses on neurophysin-containing neurons, alternate serial ultrathin sections were stained with colloidal gold using antisera against either neurophysin or GABA; boutons immunoreactive for GABA made synaptic contact with supraoptic neurons containing neurophysin immunoreactivity. Converging results obtained with these two procedures indicate that GABAergic axons synapse directly on neurons containing oxytocin or vasopressin in the rat hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Dual ultrastructural localization of two neurotransmitter-related antigens: colloidal gold-labeled neurophysin-immunoreactive supraoptic neurons receive peroxidase-labeled glutamate decarboxylase- or gold-labeled GABA-immunoreactive synapses. 390 66

The functional characteristics of binding sites for the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) detected by radioautography in laminae I and II of the dorsal horn (DH) and on cultured neonatal DH neurons were studied on the latter using perforated patch-clamp recordings. The neurons were identified by their spike discharge properties and on the basis of the presence of met-enkephalin-like and glutamate decarboxylase-like immunoreactivities. OT (100 nM) never induced any membrane current at a holding potential of -60 mV but increased the frequency of spontaneously occurring AMPA receptor-mediated EPSCs or the mean amplitude of electrically evoked EPSCs in a subset (35%) of neurons. The frequency of miniature EPSCs (m-EPSCs) recorded in the presence of 0.5 microM tetrodotoxin was also increased by OT (100 nM) without any change in their mean amplitude, indicating an action at a site close to the presynaptic terminal. The decay kinetics of any type of EPSC were never modified by OT. The effect of OT was reproduced by [Thr4, Gly7]-OT (100 nM), a selective OT receptor agonist, and blocked by d(CH2)5-[Tyr(Me)2,Thr4,Tyr-NH29]-ornithine vasotocin (100 nM), a specific OT receptor antagonist. Reducing the extracellular Ca2+ concentration from 2.5 to 0.3 mM in the presence of Cd2+ (100 microM) reversibly blocked the effect of OT on m-EPSCs. The OT receptors described here may represent the substrate for modulatory actions of descending hypothalamo-spinal OT-containing pathways on the nociceptive system.
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PMID:Oxytocin modulates glutamatergic synaptic transmission between cultured neonatal spinal cord dorsal horn neurons. 950 99

The neural control of the subcommissural organ (SCO) has been partially characterized. The best known input is an important serotonergic innervation in the SCO of several mammals. In the rat, this innervation comes from raphe nuclei and appears to exert an inhibitory effect on the SCO activity. A GABAergic innervation has also been shown in the SCO of the rat and frog Rana perezi. In the rat, GABA and the enzyme glutamate decarboxylase are involved in the SCO innervation. GABA is taken up by some secretory ependymocytes and nerve terminals, coexisting with serotonin in a population of synaptic terminals. Dopamine, noradrenaline, and different neuropeptides such as LH-RH, vasopressin, vasotocin, oxytocin, mesotocin, substance P, alpha-neoendorphin, and galanin are also involved in SCO innervation. In the bovine SCO, an important number of fibers containing tyrosine hydroxylase are present, indicating that in this species dopamine and/or noradrenaline-containing fibers are an important neural input. In Rana perezi, a GABAergic innervation of pineal origin could explain the influence of light on the SCO secretory activity in frogs. A general conclusion is that the SCO cells receive neural inputs from different neurotransmitter systems. In addition, the possibility that neurotransmitters and neuropeptides present in the cerebrospinal fluid may also affect the SCO activity, is discussed.
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PMID:Neural input and neural control of the subcommissural organ. 1124 62

Neurons that synthesize melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) colocalize GABA, regulate energy homeostasis, modulate water intake, and influence anxiety, stress, and social interaction. Similarly, vasopressin and oxytocin can influence the same behaviors and states, suggesting that these neuropeptides may exert part of their effect by modulating MCH neurons. Using whole cell recording in MCH-green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic mouse hypothalamic brain slices, we found that both vasopressin and oxytocin evoked a substantial excitatory effect. Both peptides reversibly increased spike frequency and depolarized the membrane potential in a concentration-dependent and tetrodotoxin-resistant manner, indicating a direct effect. Substitution of lithium for extracellular sodium, Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger blockers KB-R7943 and SN-6, and intracellular calcium chelator BAPTA, all substantially reduced the vasopressin-mediated depolarization, suggesting activation of the Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger. Vasopressin reduced input resistance, and the vasopressin-mediated depolarization was attenuated by SKF-96265, suggesting a second mechanism based on opening nonselective cation channels. Neither vasopressin nor oxytocin showed substantial excitatory actions on lateral hypothalamic inhibitory neurons identified in a glutamate decarboxylase 67 (GAD67)-GFP mouse. The primary vasopressin receptor was vasopressin receptor 1a (V1aR), as suggested by the excitation by V1aR agonist [Arg(8)]vasotocin, the selective V1aR agonist [Phe(2)]OVT and by the presence of V1aR mRNA in MCH cells, but not in other nearby GABA cells, as detected with single-cell RT-PCR. Oxytocin receptor mRNA was also detected in MCH neurons. Together, these data suggest that vasopressin or oxytocin exert a minimal effect on most GABA neurons in the lateral hypothalamus but exert a robust excitatory effect on presumptive GABA cells that contain MCH. Thus, some of the central actions of vasopressin and oxytocin may be mediated through MCH cells.
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PMID:Vasopressin and oxytocin excite MCH neurons, but not other lateral hypothalamic GABA neurons. 2226 6

The perinuclear zone (PNZ) of the supraoptic nucleus (SON) contains some GABAergic and cholinergic neurons thought to innervate the SON proper. In mice expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) in association with glutamate decarboxylase (GAD)65 we found an abundance of GAD65-eGFP neurons in the PNZ, whereas in mice expressing GAD67-eGFP, there were few labeled PNZ neurons. In mice expressing choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-eGFP, large, brightly fluorescent and small, dimly fluorescent ChAT-eGFP neurons were present in the PNZ. The small ChAT-eGFP and GAD65-eGFP neurons exhibited a low-threshold depolarizing potential consistent with a low-threshold spike, with little transient outward rectification. Large ChAT-eGFP neurons exhibited strong transient outward rectification and a large hyperpolarizing spike afterpotential, very similar to that of magnocellular vasopressin and oxytocin neurons. Thus the large soma and transient outward rectification of large ChAT-eGFP neurons suggest that these neurons would be difficult to distinguish from magnocellular SON neurons in dissociated preparations by these criteria. Large, but not small, ChAT-eGFP neurons were immunostained with ChAT antibody (AB144p). Reconstructed neurons revealed a few processes encroaching near and passing through the SON from all types but no clear evidence of a terminal axon arbor. Large ChAT-eGFP neurons were usually oriented vertically and had four or five dendrites with multiple branches and an axon with many collaterals and local arborizations. Small ChAT-eGFP neurons had a more restricted dendritic tree compared with parvocellular GAD65 neurons, the latter of which had long thin processes oriented mediolaterally. Thus many of the characteristics found previously in unidentified, small PNZ neurons are also found in identified GABAergic neurons and in a population of smaller ChAT-eGFP neurons.
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PMID:Characteristics of GABAergic and cholinergic neurons in perinuclear zone of mouse supraoptic nucleus. 2537 83