title: Immunocytochemical study of somatostatin, neurotensin, GABA, and glycine in rat spinal dorsal horn.
abstract: In order to determine whether somatostatin coexists with GABA or glycine in neurones in rat spinal dorsal horn, a combined pre- and post-embedding immunocytochemical study was carried out. One hundred six somatostatin-immunoreactive neurones located in lamina II and the dorsal half of lamina III were tested with antiserum or monoclonal antibody to GABA and none of these cells showed GABA-like immunoreactivity. However, 8 out of 13 somatostatin-immunoreactive neurones located deeper in the dorsal horn (ventral lamina III and lamina IV) showed glycine-like immunoreactivity, and 6 of these were also GABA-immunoreactive. We have previously shown that neurotensin-immunoreactive neurones in laminae II and III are also not immunoreactive when tested with GABA antiserum (Todd et al.: Neuroscience 47:685-691, 1992), and a double-labelling fluorescence method was therefore used to compare the distribution of somatostatin and neurotensin within the superficial dorsal horn. The two types of peptide-immunoreactivity were never found in the same profile. These results suggest that somatostatin and neurotensin are present in different populations of non-GABAergic neurones in rat superficial dorsal horn, but that some somatostatin-containing neurones in the deeper part of the dorsal horn contain glycine, with or without GABA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Glasgow, Scotland.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Proudlock
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Spike
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Todd
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005998:Glycine / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D009496:Neurotensin / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013004:Somatostatin / Q000378:metabolism*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000378:metabolism*; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009479:Neuropeptides; D009496:Neurotensin; D013004:Somatostatin; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D005998:Glycine