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)

In the compartmentalized hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system ( CHNS ), a portion of medial basal hypothalamus (HT) containing the supraoptic nuclei (SON) and the neurohypophysis (PP) were organ-cultured in separate compartments. The intact axonal projections from SON to PP passed through a hole in a fluid-tight barrier which separated the two compartments. When properly sealed, the leak rate from one side to the other is less than 1%/24 h and the only connection between the 2 compartments is axonal. This system had relatively stable basal vasopressin (VP) release rates from both HT and PP for up to 72 h in culture. Basal neurohypophysial VP release rate was unchanged during two successive 1-hour periods on any given day. Physiological responsiveness was confirmed by osmotic challenge. When HT osmolality was changed by +/- 15 mosm, VP release from PP was appropriately and significantly increased or decreased. Equivalent changes in PP side osmolality had no effect on VP release. After 72 h in culture, the VP content of neural lobes from CHNS explants was more than double that of lobes which were severed from HT prior to culture. Finally, the presence of numerous VP neurophysin-containing cells in 72-hour cultured explants was demonstrated by immunocytochemistry. This system will be useful to localize sites of action for agents affecting VP release to either HT and/or PP.
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PMID:A compartmentalized, organ-cultured hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system for the study of vasopressin release. 672 21

The ultrastructure of the vasopressin neurons of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus was studied by immunocytochemical techniques. Tissue antigen was detected in unembedded tissue sections using a monoclonal antibody that recognizes vasopressin but not oxytocin or vasotocin. At the light-microscopic level, reaction product was seen to fill the cytoplasm of the neuron cell body as well as large portions of the dendrite and axon. Immunoreactive spines were seen on both somatic and dendritic surfaces and their presence was confirmed at the ultrastructural level. In the light-microscope, axonal processes do not have spines and are thinner and more varicose than dendritic processes. At the electron-microscopic level, both axons and dendrites of the vasopressin cells are filled with reactive neurosecretory granules. The presence of large numbers of these organelles made it difficult to distinguish proximal dendrites from Herring bodies (axonal swellings). At the ultrastructural level, reaction product was also observed in the cytoplasm of all segments of the vasopressin cells. The presence of reaction product outside of membranous compartments is undoubtably due to disruption of membranes by detergent treatment or exposure to basic pH. However, the staining procedure used did allow us to examine the synaptic input to the vasopressin cells. All portions of the vasopressin neuron receive a diverse innervation. The somata have synapses on their surfaces and on spines. These axo-somatic terminals are primarily, but not exclusively, symmetrical and the presynaptic elements contain spherical or elongate vesicles. On the dendrites, terminals again were observed on the surface or on spines. these axo-dendritic synapses were usually asymmetrical. The presynaptic elements contained clear spherical, elongate or pleomorphic vesicles. Occasional varicosities with dense-core granules were seen to make en passant contacts with dendrites; these contacts did not have obvious membrane specializations. Input to vasopressin axons was studied both along the paraventricular-neurohypophysial tract and in the median eminence. Vasopressin axons receive a synaptic input (axo-axonic), predominately of the asymmetric variety with clear, spherical vesicles in the presynaptic element. These findings demonstrate that the vasopressin neurons of the paraventricular nucleus receive a diverse innervation.
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PMID:Ultrastructural studies of vasopressin neurons of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus using a monoclonal antibody to vasopressin: analysis of synaptic input. 687 93

The neuroanatomy of the human hypothalamus is reviewed with special interest focused on its neuroendocrine role. The magnocellular neurons in the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei are the site of synthesis of the nonapeptides antidiuretic hormone and oxytocin and their carriers, the neurophysins. They are in close relation with the posterior lobe of the pituitary which contains their axonal neurosecretory endings. The parvocellular neurons are scattered around the third ventricle, from the preoptic area towards the infundibulum. They control the adenohypophysis by the releasing hormones for thyrotropin (TRH), luteinizing hormone (LHGR), growth hormone (GHRH) and the inhibiting factor for growth hormone (somatostatin or SRIF) and prolactin (PIH). The mapping of the various hypothalamic structures responsible for these syntheses is still a problem although it progresses thanks to new techniques of immunocytochemistry. Recent so-called "hypothalamic" hormones like TRH and somatostatin for instance have been identified outside the hypothalamus. The posterior hypothalamus with other parts of the brain: the medial forebrain non myelinated bundle, in the lateral hypothalamus, connects the preoptic region to the midbrain. The stria terminalis connects the amygdala with the hypothalamus. Fibers of retinal origin terminate in the suprachiasmatic nuclei.
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PMID:The hypothalamus: anatomy and functions. 702 80

The present ultrastructural results indicate that, in the rat, the vasopressin-synthesizing perikarya of the supraoptic nucleus (NSO) attain a certain degree of maturity earlier than those of the paraventricular nucleus (NPV). In the neonate rat, the stainability of the nuclear areas is very weak; in the perikarya of the NSO a few labeled granules can be found, whereas the perikarya of the NPV often display only a labeled Golgi area, the cytoplasm being devoid of granules. At the end of the first (NSO) and the second (NPV) postnatal weeks, the filling of the neurosecretory granules with vasopressin is inhomogeneous with irregular spots of reaction product distributed on the granules. This feature is less obvious during the following week and has nearly disappeared after the third and fourth postnatal weeks. Already in the neonate two types of vasopressin-positive fibers are observed in the median eminence, characterized by the different diameters of their granules and by their typical location in the internal and the external pericapillary contact zone. Especially in one and two week-old animals, in the internal zone of the median eminence and, to a lesser degree in the neural lobe, the immuncytochemical reaction product is deposited on an axonal tubular network. Judging from the presence of very few vasopressin-negative fibers in the neural lobe of the neonate, the development of the oxytocin system appears to be delayed. A characteristic relationship between pituicytes and the neurosecretory fibers can be observed during the first two postnatal weeks. After the third postnatal week the immunocytochemical features of the vasopressin system correspond approximately to that in adult rats.
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PMID:Electron microscopic immunocytochemical investigation on the postnatal development of the vasopressin system in the rat. 735 84

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) mRNAs are targeted to the axonal compartment of rat hypothalamic magnocellular neurons. Salt-loading results in a considerable rise in hypothalamic and axonal AVP mRNA but only a moderate increase for axonal OT mRNA. Here we report that hypoosmolality gives rise to a rapid decrease of axonal AVP encoding transcripts to undetectable levels after 2 weeks. The levels of OT mRNA in the axonal compartment did not change significantly. In the hypothalamus the mRNA for AVP also decreased. The size of the poly(A) tract of AVP encoding transcripts appeared to be strictly correlated with plasma osmolality. In contrast, the amount and size of OT encoding mRNAs were only moderately or not influenced by hypoosmolar stimuli.
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PMID:Effect of hypoosmolality on the abundance, poly(A) tail length and axonal targeting of arginine vasopressin and oxytocin mRNAs in rat hypothalamic magnocellular neurons. 758 28

Taurine is an inhibitory amino acid that hyperpolarizes magnocellular neurosecretory neurons. To determine which cell types in the rat supraoptic nucleus contain taurine, we used a monoclonal antibody raised against a taurine conjugate. Preembedding immunocytochemistry was carried out at the light and electron microscopic levels using diaminobenzidine and gold-substituted silver-intensified peroxidase as markers. We report the presence of taurine in all cellular compartments of the supraoptic nucleus, except axons, with variable labeling intensities among the different compartments. Few cell bodies of magnocellular neurons were immunoreactive, but many distal dendrites and some proximal ones showed weak-to-moderate levels of immunoreactivity. Strong immunoreactivity was found over glial cell bodies and their processes, in particular in the ventral glial lamina of the supraoptic nucleus. Large astrocytic processes labeled with the taurine antibody included the endfeet participating in the glial limitans around capillaries and at the ventral surface of the hypothalamus. Other types of immunoreactive astrocytic profiles were found scattered within the neuropil where these processes participated in different interactions with the neuronal elements of the supraoptic nucleus. Immunoreactive glial expansions, sometimes even the main process of the glial cell, engulfed axonal boutons. Other labeled glial processes were found between two magnocellular perikarya or closely apposed to the membrane of axonal boutons contacting the neuronal cell bodies. The frequent finding of closely apposed glial and dendritic elements bearing different levels of taurine-like immunoreactivity suggests that exchange of taurine between those two compartments may occur. We propose that taurine could be released from supraoptic glia by a small decrease in osmolarity or by receptor-mediated mechanisms during conditions of low hormonal (vasopressin and/or oxytocin) needs. Such released taurine could then act on presynaptic or postsynaptic sites, or both, to exert its neuromodulatory actions.
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PMID:Taurine immunoreactivity in the rat supraoptic nucleus: prominent localization in glial cells. 761 71

The separation between the cell bodies of olfactory receptor neurons in the nasal cavity and their axon terminals in the olfactory bulb make them attractive for studying axonal transport. Although high molecular weight RNAs are generally believed to be excluded from axons of mature neurons, we demonstrate here that mRNA for olfactory marker protein (OMP), an abundant cytoplasmic protein selectively expressed in mature receptor cells, is present in rodent olfactory receptor axons. OMP RNA was detected by in situ hybridization at the light microscope level in axons and in terminals. By nuclease protection, the level of OMP RNA in the olfactory bulb was 5-10% of that in the olfactory epithelium where the cell bodies reside. In contrast to axonally transported vasopressin and oxytocin mRNAs, which are deficient in their 3' polyA tails, axonal OMP RNA fractionated as polyA+. OMP RNA was lost from axons and terminals after deafferentation, suggesting that OMP RNA was synthesized in receptor cell bodies in the epithelium and was transported into axons and terminals in the olfactory bulb. RNA for G(olf), a G-protein highly expressed in dendrites of mature olfactory receptor neurons, was not detected in the olfactory bulb. We hypothesize that the immature nature of the cytoskeleton and, specifically, the lack of tightly bundled microtubules allows transport of particular mRNAs in olfactory receptor axons.
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PMID:Olfactory marker protein mRNA is found in axons of olfactory receptor neurons. 762 14

Colchicine blockade of axonal transport from the paraventricular nucleus to the median eminence was used to indirectly infer hypothalamic ACTH secretagog release in awake rats. Median eminence contents of CRF, arginine vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) were determined by RIA after insulin-induced hypoglycemia, restraint, and novelty. Insulin decreased circulating glucose concentrations and increased ACTH and corticosterone values. Median eminence CRF and AVP content declined but OT content did not. Both novelty and restraint stressors increased circulating ACTH and corticosterone concentrations. Secretagog measurements indicated decreases in OT content without concomitant decreases in either CRF or AVP with both stressors. These results indicate that: 1) colchicine blockade of axonal transport is useful in studying patterns of secretagog release in animals undergoing psychological stressors; 2) in contrast to physical stressors, OT appears to be a major component of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal response to psychological stress; 3) the patterns of secretagog release differ with regards to physical and psychological stressors.
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PMID:Patterns of adrenocorticotropin secretagog release with hypoglycemia, novelty, and restraint after colchicine blockade of axonal transport. 767 13

Ample evidence indicates that in nerve cells, several individual proteins are locally synthesized in postsynaptic domains in dendrites. By contrast, axonal terminals, at least in mammals, are generally thought to lack protein synthetic capacity. However, axonal nerve endings of the hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal tract have recently been shown to contain mRNAs encoding vasopressin, oxytocin, dynorphin, and neurofilament. In this report, we identify BC1 RNA, a small RNA polymerase III transcript that is specifically expressed in neurons, in hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal axons. BC1 RNA has previously been shown to be located in somatic and dendritic domains of various types of neurons in the rat nervous system. Here we present evidence to show that BC 1 RNA, like several neuropeptide mRNAs, is axonally transported from magnocellular hypothalamic neurons to neurosecretory nerve endings in the posterior pituitary. BC1 RNA, which has been reported to be a component of a ribonucleoprotein particle, is thus colocalized with dendritic mRNAs in dendritic domains and with axonal mRNAs in axonal domains, respectively. Such colocalization is indicative of functional interactions of BC1 RNA with those mRNAs that are targeted to extrasomatic domains of nerve cells.
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PMID:Transport of BC1 RNA in hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal axons. 769 10

This study describes ultrastructural and morphometric changes in the arginine vasopressin (AVP)-like immunoreactive and oxytocin (OT)-like immunoreactive neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nuclei (PVN) and supraoptic nuclei (SON) of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats at 1-12 months post-diabetes. At 1-6 months post diabetes, both AVP-immunoreactive and OT-immunoreactive neuronal somata were hypertrophied in the PVN and SON. These neuronal somata contained highly dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum in the cytoplasm. The reaction product for AVP as well as OT localization was dispersed throughout the cytoplasm and cell nucleus, but not within the nucleolus. Moreover, the reaction product appeared to be studded onto the ribosomes on dilated cisterns of the endoplasmic reticulum. At 9-12 months post-diabetes, both AVP-immunoreactive and OT-immunoreactive dendrites contained dilated endoplasmic reticulum, autophagic vacuoles, lipid bodies, microtubules, membranous bodies and occasionally swollen mitochondria. Labelled hypertrophied axonal profiles containing neurosecretory granules, autophagic vacuoles, membranous bodies and tubulovesicular elements were also observed in the neuropil. Morphometric study showed that both AVP-immunoreactive and OT-immunoreactive neuronal somata of the PVN and SON in the diabetic rats were markedly hypertrophied at all the time intervals examined. It is concluded that the morphometric changes observed represent hyperactivity of both AVP- and OT-immunoreactive neurons, while the concurrent ultrastructural changes observed at later stages may be indicative of degeneration.
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PMID:Arginine vasopressin- and oxytocin-like immunoreactive neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. 773 75


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