B. Vansteensel et al., PARTIAL COLOCALIZATION OF GLUCOCORTICOID AND MINERALOCORTICOID RECEPTORS IN DISCRETE COMPARTMENTS IN NUCLEI OF RAT HIPPOCAMPUS NEURONS, Journal of Cell Science, 109, 1996, pp. 787-792
The glucocorticoid receptor and the mineralocorticoid receptor are hor
mone-dependent transcription factors, They regulate the excitability o
f rat hippocampus CA1 neurons in a coordinated fashion, We studied the
spatial distribution of these transcription factors in nuclei of CA1
neurons by dual labeling immunocytochemistry and confocal microscopy,
combined with novel image restoration and image analysis techniques, W
e found that both receptors are concentrated in about one thousand clu
sters within the nucleus, Some clusters contain either mineralocortico
id receptors or glucocorticoid receptors, but a significant number of
clusters contains both receptors. These results indicate that the two
receptor types are targeted to specific compartments in the nucleus, T
he coordinated action of the glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid rece
ptor on gene expression may be established in a specific set of nuclea
r domains that contain both receptors.