Tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive neurons in paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei of the human brain demonstrated by a method adapted to prolonged formalin fixation.
We studied the distribution of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactive (IR) neurons in the adult human hypothalamus using a modification of the peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunohistochemical method which can be applied on autopsy brain material following prolonged formalin fixation. We observed that most of the TH-IR perikarya localized within the paraventricular (PVN) and supraoptic (SON) nuclei were large and showed homogeneous staining over the entire cytoplasm and processes. These results show that in the human brain a large population of neurons within the neurosecretory nuclei are able to synthesize a catecholamine.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Athens, Eginition Hospital, Greece.
M T
MT
Panayotacopoulou
R
R
Guntern
C
C
Bouras
M R
MR
Issidorides
J
J
Constantinidis
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000201:enzymology; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000201:enzymology; D005260:Female; D005557:Formaldehyde; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009474:Neurons / Q000201:enzymology*; D010286:Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000201:enzymology*; D013495:Supraoptic Nucleus / Q000201:enzymology*; D016707:Tissue Fixation; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000276:immunology*
D005557:Formaldehyde; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase