Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01185 (vasopressin)
 23,126 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The glial architecture of the median eminence (ME) of the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) was studied immunohistochemically. For this purpose, semithin sections of the proximal ME were processed according to the PAP technique using antibodies directed against glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Various glial cells were stained. Their distribution, the arrangement and morphology of their processes, and the spatial relations with adjacent tissue components could be examined in detail. Most of the immunoreactive cells were identified as either tanycytes (present throughout the internal zone, but preferentially located in the ependymal and subependymal layer), or as tanycyte-like cells (present throughout the external zone, but preferentially situated in the reticular layer). The processes of both cell types established numerous contacts with capillaries of the primary portal plexus in the external zone. Moreover, many projections of tanycyte processes to capillaries of the internal zone were revealed, most notably in the subependymal layer. Peculiar uni- and bipolar cells could be detected in the fibre layer of the internal zone, the processes of which were oriented parallel to the course of the axons of the hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal system. It was demonstrated that the methodology used to study the glial cells of the ME was also well applicable to the neural lobe. This technique, therefore, provides a valuable tool for the precise visualization of the majority of glial cells in the whole neurohypophysis of the gerbil. Thus, by sequential immunostaining of serial semithin sections investigations concerning the presence of multiple substances within single neurohypophyseal glial cells become possible.
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PMID:The glial architecture of the median eminence of the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus); a study of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunoreactivity in semithin sections. 169 78

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and the intergeniculate leaflet (IGL) are retinorecipient structures that play important roles in the expression of circadian rhythmicity. We examined these two structures in a diurnal ground squirrel, Spermophilus lateralis, using immunohistochemical techniques, and cholera toxin-bound horseradish peroxidase. A number of immunoreactive substances are distributed within the ground squirrel SCN in a pattern similar to that reported in many other mammals. These include vasopressin, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, serotonin, neuropeptide Y (NPY), and glial fibrillary acidic protein. The squirrel SCN differs from that of most other species examined to date in two respects. First, a dense cluster of cells containing immunoreactive L-enkephalin (L-ENK-IR) is observed in the center of the SCN. Second, there is a contralateral, but no ipsilateral, projection from the retina to the SCN. In the lateral geniculate region there is a substantial region that contains NPY-immunoreactive cells and receives a bilateral retinal projection. This region is assumed to be homologous with the IGL described in other mammals. Cells containing L-ENK-IR are distributed throughout the LGN in groups that overlap, but which have a distinctly different distribution than the more extensive groups of NPY-IR cells.
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PMID:Immunocytochemical characterization of the suprachiasmatic nucleus and the intergeniculate leaflet in the diurnal ground squirrel, Spermophilus lateralis. 172 27

Surgical isolation of the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) within a hypothalamic island is reported to produce loss of circadian rhythmicity. The results have been interpreted to indicate that SCN efferents are necessary for the expression of circadian rhythms. It is not clear, however, whether the loss of circadian rhythms in behavioral responses following SCN isolation is attributable to transection of efferents, to loss of cells within the island, or to gliosis produced by the knife cut. To explore this issue, we examined locomotor activity and gonadal state of male golden hamsters housed in constant darkness (DD, with a dim red light for maintenance) for at least 10 weeks following isolation of the SCN from the rest of the brain by cuts by means of a Halasz wire microknife. Brain sections were immunocytochemically stained for the peptides vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), vasopressin (VP) or neurophysin II (NP II), and neuropeptide Y (NPY) to localize the SCN and to assess its viability, and for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) to delimit the border of the knife cut. Experimental animals with VIP and VP/NP II immunoreactivity in the SCN within the island retained free-running locomotor rhythms following transection of SCN efferents. Animals with cuts that failed to sever SCN efferents, and sham-operated animals (in which the Halasz knife was lowered but not rotated), also maintained circadian rhythmicity. Hamsters sustaining severe damage to the SCN showed disrupted locomotor activity. In those hamsters that retained circadian locomotor rhythmicity following SCN isolation, gonads failed to regress in DD, demonstrating the absence of an appropriate photoperiodic response. The results suggest a multiplicity of SCN coupling mechanisms in the control of circadian rhythms.
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PMID:Circadian locomotor rhythms, but not photoperiodic responses, survive surgical isolation of the SCN in hamsters. 177 90

The effects of transient (30') forebrain ischemia (4 vessel occlusion model) on peptidergic neurons and astroglial cells in various diencephalic and telencephalic areas have been analyzed. The study was performed at various time intervals of reperfusion, i.e. 4 h, 1, 7 and 40 days. Neuropeptide Y (NPY), somatostatin (SRIF), cholecystokinin (CCK), vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) immunoreactive (IR) neuronal systems and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-IR glial cells have been visualized by means of the indirect immunoperoxidase procedure using the avidin-biotin technique. The analysis was performed by means of computer assisted microdensitometry and manual cell counting. At the hippocampal level a huge reduction of neuropeptide (CCK, SRIF, VIP) IR cell bodies was observed, still present 40 days after reperfusion. On the contrary, in the frontoparietal cortex the number of the neuropeptide (CCK, SRIF, VIP, NPY) IR neurons showed a decrease at 4 h, 1 and 7 days after reperfusion followed by a complete recovery at 40 days. A rapid reduction followed by an almost complete recovery (7 days after reperfusion) was also observed at striatal level where SRIF- and NPY-IR neurons were detected. A marked decrease of NPY-IR terminals was observed in the paraventricular and periventricular hypothalamic nuclei and in the paraventricular thalamic nucleus. AVP-IR was markedly reduced in the magnocellular part of the paraventricular nucleus throughout the analyzed period (7 days after reperfusion). GFAP-IR was increased in the hippocampal formation and neostriatum while a not consistent increase was observed at neocortical level. These data point to a differential recovery of peptide-IR and to a different astroglial response in the various brain areas after transient forebrain ischemia. Region-specific factors rather than factors related to neuronal chemical coding seems to play a major role in determining the vulnerability of neuronal populations to transient ischemia.
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PMID:Effects of transient forebrain ischemia on peptidergic neurons and astroglial cells: evidence for recovery of peptide immunoreactivities in neocortex and striatum but not hippocampal formation. 197 43

The human suprachiasmatic nucleus was analysed by immunohistochemical demonstration of various substances in combination with 3-dimensional computerized reconstruction and video overlay facilities. In the human, the suprachiasmatic nucleus is not as compact as in the rodent. Its boundaries are not easily delineated using conventional stains, and it shows no obvious cytoarchitectonic structure. However, based on its chemoarchitecture, the human suprachiasmatic nucleus can be apportioned into five major subdivisions: Dorsal, comprising a crescent shaped mass of densely packed neurophysin/vasopressin-neurons as well as neurotensin-neurons, and also containing 3-fucosyl-N-acetyl-lactosamine (FAL)-positive neurons in its medial part. Central, occupying the core of the nucleus and consisting precisely of a region devoid of neurophysin/vasopressin neurons but demarcated by calbindin, synaptophysin, and a circumscribed cluster of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-neurons and containing neurotensin neurons as well. Anteroventrally this division also contains some intermingled neurons positive for neurotensin, neuropeptide Y, somatostatin, and FAL. Ventral, extending from the anterior extreme of the preoptic recess caudolaterally to a field between the optic chiasm and the anteroventral margin of the supraoptic nucleus. This subdivision is specified by synaptophysin, calbindin, and substance P immunoreactivity and is almost free of glial fibrillary acidic protein. From its rostral portion, fibers immunoreactive for calbindin, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, synaptophysin, and substance P protrude deeply into the optic chiasm. Medial, comprising a thin band between the subependymal zone and the dorsal subdivision, containing scattered somatostatin neurons. External, extending as a band around the dorsal and lateral borders of the nucleus, containing astrocytes expressing the FAL-epitope and scattered neurophysin/vasopressin and neurotensin neurons. These findings indicate that the human suprachiasmatic nucleus contains well-defined subdivisions with different, chemically specific, connections and provides a basis for comparing these subdivisions with the structure and function of subdivisions previously described for the suprachiasmatic nucleus in experimental animals. In addition, the findings strengthen the concept that the human suprachiasmatic nucleus generates and expresses circadian rhythms in a manner similar to that documented for the suprachiasmatic nucleus in experimental animals, and suggest that different subdivisions may subserve specific functional roles.
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PMID:Evidence for subdivisions in the human suprachiasmatic nucleus. 203 18

The presence and distribution of the astrocytic marker protein GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) in the pituitaries of several mammalian as well as of some submammalian vertebrates were examined immunohistochemically. Our study revealed that GFAP-immunoreactive pituicytes, probably reflecting the presence of the filament-rich fibrous type of pituicyte, are a common feature of the mammalian neural lobe. Moreover, interspecific and interindividual differences of the neurohypophyseal immunostaining could be observed. In the distal neurohypophysis of some submammalian vertebrates, processes of ependymal glia showed GFAP-like immunoreactivity. Our results are in agreement with the well established evolutionary stability of GFAP elsewhere in the brain. In contrast to the neurohypophysis, GFAP-positive cells within the intermediate lobe were inconstantly present in only some species. They may be derived from neurohypophyseal glia. Folliculo-stellate cells of the adenohypophyseal pars distalis were not stained.
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PMID:Comparative immunohistochemical study of the presence of glial fibrillary acidic protein in the pituitary of several vertebrates. 264 93

The postnatal development (day of birth up to the end of the third month) of neurohypophyseal pituicytes and tanycytes of the median eminence (ME) and the medial basal hypothalamus (MBH) was studied immunohistochemically in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) with antibodies directed against glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP; the major protein subunit of glial filaments). Weak GFAP-immunoreactivity (IR) was scattered in the neural lobe (NL), the ME and the lining of the ventral 3rd ventricle at the first postnatal days. By the end of the second postnatal week, the intensity of the IR had reached a level comparable to that of adult animals. Generally, in the whole neurohypophysis a cytoarchitectonic pattern, which essentially corresponded to adult conditions, was reached around the beginning of the second month. During the first week postnatum, solely perinuclear stainings, mostly unipolar pituicytes with short processes and isolated fibers were discernible in the NL. In the course of the second and third postnatal week, a growing number of the densely arranged pituicytes appeared in form of bi- and multipolar cells. Thickness and length of pituicyte processes, as well as their degree of branching, increased progressively in the first month. The number of GFAP-positive tanycytes in the ventral 3rd ventricle and in the ME most markedly augmented in the first week postnatum. In the MBH, long tanycyte processes emerged from the ventricular lining to cross the arcuate nucleus in large bows, delimiting groups of neurons. Ependymal and subependymal tanycytes in the ME gave rise to radial processes extending to the external zone.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Postnatal development of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunoreactivity in pituicytes and tanycytes of the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus). 267 Aug 44

The post-embedding immuno gold staining (IGS) technique was used for the ultrastructural localization of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in pituicytes and tanycytes of the neurohypophysis. IGS was applied to LR White embedded neurohypophyseal tissue of the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus), a species which contains abundant GFAP-positive pituicytes and tanycytes. GFAP-immunoreactivity could be demonstrated on pituicytic intermediate filaments (IF's) in situ. Thus, it was shown that pituicytes contain GFAP in its filamentous form, what had been a matter of speculation. At the ultrastructural level, gerbil tanycytes and tanycyte-like cells in the external zone of the median eminence were characterized by a great amount of densely packed IF's, which were labeled by both GFAP- or vimentin-antibodies. Sequential immunostaining of serial semithin sections with GFAP- and vimentin-antibodies revealed an invariable coexpression of the two IF proteins in somata and processes of these median eminence cells.
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PMID:Immunogold electron microscopic localization of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in neurohypophyseal pituicytes and tanycytes of the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus). 273 98

Previous studies have suggested that insulin may play a role in the hormonal regulation of neurotransmitter metabolisms within the central nervous system. In order to provide additional information to support this hypothesis, we examined the distribution of insulin receptors within the forebrain of adult male rats. Insulin receptors were localized by immunocytochemistry, using an antibody directed against the carboxy-terminus of the beta-subunit of the insulin receptor. The antibody specificity was tested by immunoprecipitation of brain insulin receptors with antiserum and the purity of the receptor-antibody preparation was determined using hormone binding-assays with radiolabeled insulin and insulin-like growth factor-l. Insulin receptor-like immunoreactivity was found in a widespread, but selective, distribution on neurons throughout the rat forebrain. Double-labeling with glial fibrillary acidic protein did not demonstrate any detectable insulin receptor-like immunoreactivity on glial cells. Areas with the highest density of insulin receptor-like immunoreactivity were found in the olfactory bulbs, hypothalamus and median eminence, medial habenula, subthalamic nucleus, subfornical organ, CA 1/2 pyramidal cell layer of the hippocampus and piriform cortex. Double-staining of hypothalamic sections with somatostatin and vasopressin antisera revealed insulin receptor-like immunoreactivity on a subpopulation of somatostatin neurons in the periventricular region and on vasopressin neurons in the supraoptic nucleus. A moderately dense insulin receptor-like immunoreactivity was observed in layers II-IV of cerebral cortex, medial amygdala, reticular thalamic nucleus, zona incerta, and preoptic and septal regions, whereas a low density of insulin receptor-like immunoreactive neurons was found in basolateral amygdala and most thalamic regions. The basal ganglia and most parts of the thalamus were almost devoid of insulin receptor-like immunoreactivity. Our findings provide morphological support for a direct action of insulin on selected regions of the rat forebrain and suggest that the insulin receptor may modulate synaptic transmission or the release of neurotransmitters and peptide hormones in the CNS.
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PMID:Distribution of insulin receptor-like immunoreactivity in the rat forebrain. 277 Oct 55

Organotypic cultures were prepared from slices of neonatal rat hypothalami and were immunohistochemically stained for the neurohypophyseal peptides vasopressin and oxytocin, their associated neurophysins, and for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Both glial and neural elements survived and matured within the cultures, expressing cellular morphologies and retaining a topographic organization similar to that found in vivo. Neurones producing peptides were readily identified and such peptidergic neurones elaborated processes with an appearance characteristic of beaded axons. These presumptive axons grew in a selective and specific manner over certain regions in the slice cultures while avoiding other regions in a manner similar to that found in vivo. In cocultures of hypothalamus and neurointermediate lobe tissue, peptidergic axons found and grew over the neurointermediate lobe tissue and elaborated extensive terminal arborizations. Thus, it appears that at least some of the cues used for appropriate axonal guidance are maintained in these cultures. Organotypic cultures retain many in vivo characteristics as regards cellular morphology and cellular interactions, yet provide an in vitro environment useful for the study of morphology, physiology, cell biology and neurone-target interaction of hypothalamic neurones.
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PMID:Slice cultures of rat hypothalamus examined by immunohistochemical staining for neurohypophyseal peptides and GFAP. 340 51


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