INTEGRIN ALPHA-1 LOCALIZATION IN MURINE CENTRAL AND PERIPHERAL NERVOUS-SYSTEM

The distribution of neurons expressing integrin alpha 1 subunit protei n (INT alpha 1) was examined in adult mouse tissues of not only the ce ntral nervous system, but also the sympathetic ganglia, and the adrena l gland by immunohistochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy. INT alp ha 1-positive neurons were observed in most tissues examined, and most of them were found to coexpress tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) except for Purkinje cells and hippocampal neurons. Expression of INT alpha 1 was also observed in the malpositioned cortical neurons in reeler mutants, and appeared not to be affected by the aberrant cell migration of the reeler cortical neurons. In situ hybridization showed that the expres sion of INT alpha 1 mRNA was correlated with synthesis of the INT alph a 1 protein in each case, and this Ending indicated that expression of the protein was controlled by transcriptional regulation of the INT a lpha 1 gene. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.