Vasopressin- and oxytocin-immunoreactive hypothalamic neurones of inbred polydipsic mice.
In the late 1950s the inbred polydipsic mice, STR/N, was discovered. The early studies indicated that the extreme polydipsia was not due to a lack of vasopressin but probably due to innate thirst of unknown origin. Because the recent investigation has revealed the presence of some functional abnormality in the brain of the STR/N mouse, we now investigated, using immunohistochemical techniques, distribution of vasopressin (AVP)- and oxytocin (OXT)-containing neurones in the hypothalamus of polydipsic strain of mouse and compared with that of the control. The pattern of distribution of AVP- and OXT-immunoreactive neurones in the paraventricular (PV), supraoptic (SO), and suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the STR/N polydipsic mouse was similar to that of the control, but the number of AVP-immunoreactive neurones was more numerous in the PVN and SON and less in the SCN in the polydipsic mouse than in the control. In addition, a discrete group of AVP- and OXT-containing neurones that was not clearly seen in the control was discovered in the STR/N. These results implicate that abnormal distribution in the brain AVP and OXT contribute to the mechanism responsible for the polydipsia shown by the strain STR/N.
Department of Biochemistry, University of Bath, Claverton Down, UK.
A
A
Ison
K
K
Yuri
Y
Y
Ueta
G
G
Leng
K
K
Koizumi
H
H
Yamashita
M
M
Kawata
D000818:Animals; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D004327:Drinking Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D009154:Mutation; D009474:Neurons / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology*
D001127:Arginine Vasopressin; D010121:Oxytocin