Neurons containing beta-endorphin in rat brain exist separately from those containing enkephalin: immunocytochemical studies.
- 1 March 1978
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Vol. 75 (3), 1591-1595
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.75.3.1591
Abstract
Well-characterized antisera to procine .beta.-endorphin were used to localize immunoreactive sites in cryostat sections of formaldehyde-fixed rat brain by indirect immunohistochemistry. Specificity was established by absorption of immune sera with synthetic peptide fragments. Specific immunoreactivity was localized to neuronal perikarya in the basal tuberal hypothalamus, and to varicose nerve fibers which were distributed to midline nuclear areas throughout the diencephalon and anterior pons. These patterns of reactivity were unaffected by preabsorption of the immune sera with millimolar concentrations of Met5- or Leu5-enkephalin or .alpha.-endorphin. The .beta.-endorphin immunoreactive structures were morphologically separate from those cells and fibers reported to react with antisera to the enkephalins. One anti-.beta.-endorphin serum gave additional immunoreactivity with myelinated axons in limbic cortical zones; when absorbed with purified rat myelin basic protein, only the specific patterns of immunoreactivity remained. Thus, discrete .beta.-endorphin-containing neuronal circuits exist in rat brain and are anatomically distinguishable from enkephalin-containing nerve cell and fiber pathways.This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
- β-Endorphin and Adrenocorticotropin Are Selected Concomitantly by the Pituitary GlandScience, 1977
- Radioimmunoassay of brain peptides: Evaluation of a methodology for the assay of β-endorphin and enkephalinLife Sciences, 1977
- Immunocytochemical localization of methionine enkephalin: Preliminary observationsLife Sciences, 1977
- Isolation and primary structure of β-endorphin and β-lipotropin from bovine pituitary glandsBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 1977
- Radioimmunoassays for α-endorphin and β-endorphinBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 1977
- Can specificity ever be proved in immunocytochemical staining.Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry, 1977
- Endorphins, Brain Peptides That Act like OpiatesNew England Journal of Medicine, 1977
- Endorphins are located in the intermediate and anterior lobes of the pituitary gland, not in the neurohypophysisLife Sciences, 1977
- Biosynthetic origin and receptor conformation of methionine enkephalinNature, 1976
- Chemical Coupling of Peptides and Proteins to Polysaccharides by Means of Cyanogen HalidesNature, 1967