Nitric oxide synthase-containing magnocellular neurons of the rat hypothalamus synthesize oxytocin and vasopressin and express Fos following stress stimuli

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Hatakeyama, Shuji Kawai, Yoshinori Ueyama, Takashi Senba, Emiko
Copyright Year	1996
Abstract	We investigated the chemical and anatomical features of nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-containing neurons in the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei in the rat hypothalamus using combinations of enzyme histochemistry, in situ hybridization and immuno-histochemistry. Neurons expressing NOS mRNA completely overlapped with NADPH-diaphorase-positive neurons. Topographical distribution of NOS was segregated from that of CRF-containing parvicellular neurons in the posterior paraventricular nucleus but overlapped with that of magnocellular neurons. In the paraventricular nucleus, 70% of oxytocin neurons contained NOS, which corresponded to one half of NOS neurons. About one third of vasopressin-immunoreactive neurons were NADPH-diaphorase-positive and the same proportion of NADPH-diaphorase-positive neurons were vasopressin-immunoreactive. In the supraoptic nucleus, 50% of oxytocin neurons were NADPH-diaphorase-positive, which corresponded to 40% of NOS neurons. About 25% of vasopressin neurons were NADPH-diaphorase-positive, and 30% of NADPH-diaphorase-positive neurons were vasopressin-immunoreactive. When NADPH-diaphorase histochemistry was performed first, subsequent immunostaining was markedly perturbed. Using fluoro-gold as a retrograde tracer, 4% of NADPH-diaphorase-positive neurons were shown to contribute to the descending projection to the spinal cord. About 40%-50% of NADPH-diaphorase-positive neurons exhibited Fos immunoreactivity after injection of lipopolysaccharide or hypertonic saline, while only 10%-15% of these neurons expressed Fos in response to immobilization or pain. Endogenous NO may be involved in the regulation of magnocellular functions, especially when the internal environment is disturbed.
Starting Page	243
Ending Page	256
Page Count	14
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.1016/S0891-0618(96)00166-4
PubMed reference number	8951594
Journal	Medline
Volume Number	11
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/pii/S0891061896001664
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891061896001664?dgcid=api_sd_search-api-endpoint
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0891-0618%2896%2900166-4
Journal	Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article