Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-immunoreactive astrocytes are increased in the hypothalamus of androgen-insensitive testicular feminized (Tfm) mice.
In the hypothalamus of androgen-insensitive testicular feminized (Tfm) mice the normal pattern of immunohistochemical staining for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is markedly different from normal. Along the borders of the third ventricle and in the dorsomedial and arcuate nuclei, the numbers of stained astrocytes are increased. The usual ordered array of tanycytic processes is obscured by a tangle of GFAP-stained stellate glial cells. GFAP immunostaining in other regions of the Tfm forebrain is similar to that in normal mice. These results suggest that the distribution of reactive glia in the hypothalamus may have been changed as a consequence of the genetic defect in Tfm mice.
University Department of Pharmacology, Edinburgh, U.K.
J K
JK
McQueen
A K
AK
Wright
G W
GW
Arbuthnott
G
G
Fink
D013734:Androgen-Insensitivity Syndrome / Q000378:metabolism*; D000728:Androgens / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D005917:Globus Pallidus / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013493:Suprachiasmatic Nucleus / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology
D000728:Androgens; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein