IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SUPRACHIASMATIC NUCLEUS AND THE INTERGENICULATE LEAFLET IN THE HEREDITARY BILATERALLY MICROPHTHALMIC RAT

Citation
A. Tokunaga et al., IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SUPRACHIASMATIC NUCLEUS AND THE INTERGENICULATE LEAFLET IN THE HEREDITARY BILATERALLY MICROPHTHALMIC RAT, Neuroscience research, 27(1), 1997, pp. 57-63
Citations number
32
Categorie Soggetti
Neurosciences
Journal title
ISSN journal
01680102
Volume
27
Issue
1
Year of publication
1997
Pages
57 - 63
Database
ISI
SICI code
0168-0102(1997)27:1<57:ICOTSN>2.0.ZU;2-4
Abstract
Immunohistochemical observation was performed in the suprachiasmatic n ucleus (SCN) and the intergeniculate leaflet (IGL) of hereditary bilat erally microphthalmic rats without the optic nerve on both sides. In t he microphthalmic rats, volume of the SCN reduced to ca. 70% of the no rmal and numbers of the vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-like i mmunoreactive (lir) neurons were significantly decreased. Although the arginine vasopressin (aVP)- and the VIP-lir neurons distributed in th e dorsomedial and the ventrolateral part of the SCN, respectively, as reported in the normal one, somatostatin-lir neurons, localizing mainl y in a border area between the dorsomedial and the ventrolateral regio n of the normal SCN, were shifted to the ventral part of the SCN in th e microphthalmic rats. The ventral part of the SCN was covered with ne uropeptide Y (NPY)-lir fibers in both normal and mutant rats. The IGL was hardly delineated cytologically in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the mutant rats. NPY-lir neurons were found in the dorsal par t of the ventral LGN, in contrast to their even distribution in the no rmal IGL. These findings suggest that the IGL-SCN tract remains in the hereditary microphthalmic rats without the retinal projections. (C) 1 997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.