title: Immunohistochemical localization of beta-endorphin-like material in the urodele and anuran amphibian tissues.
abstract: In the present study, we have localized for the first time beta-endorphin (beta-EP)-like material in the adult and larval urodele and anuran tissues using immunohistochemical techniques. In the adult Notophthalmus viridescens and Ambystoma mexicanum, strong immunoreactivity to beta-EP antisera was observed in the region of the intermediate lobe, the latter fluorescing as a discrete body. The fluorescence was confined to the periphery of the cells, while the nuclei and the immediately surrounding cytoplasmic regions of the cells remained unstained. A few scattered cells in the anterior pituitary gland as well as the tracts in the posterior lobe also exhibited positive staining, although not as strong as the intermediate lobe. In the larval urodele, A. maculatum, beta-EP-like material was localized for the first time in the sensory ganglia and their emerging nerve fibers, in the Leydig cells of the skin, as well as in a few discrete cells scattered among stomach epithelial cells. In addition to the above, immunoreactivity to beta-EP antisera was observed in the cellular intermediate part of the neurointermediate lobe of the pituitary gland in young Xenopus laevis, the neural part of the lobe remaining nonreactive.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vethamany-Globus
mesh_terms: D000558:Ambystoma mexicanum; D000818:Animals; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007814:Larva / Q000032:analysis; D009673:Notophthalmus viridescens; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000032:analysis* / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D014982:Xenopus laevis; D001615:beta-Endorphin / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D001615:beta-Endorphin