title: The hippocampal opioidergic system: a comparative immunocytochemical study in four rodents.
abstract: The occurrence and distribution of four opioid peptides (methionine-enkephalin /met-enk/, leucine-enkephalin /leu-enk/, dynorphin-A /dyn-A/, dynorphin-B /dyn-B/) were studied and compared in the subregions and layers of the hippocampi of four rodent species (rat, mouse, hamster and guinea-pig) by means of pre-embedding immunocytochemistry in order to reveal species-specific morphological characteristics. Concerning the mossy fibre system, in the rat met-enk and dyn-A, in the mouse met-enk, in the the hamster dyn-A, in the guinea-pig dyn-B was found to be the dominating immunocytochemically detectable hippocampal opioid peptide. Outside the mossy fibre system, in other hippocampal areas met-enk-immunopositive varicose nerve fibres were most frequently detected in the rat and mouse, whereas dyn-B was the most abundant in the guinea-pig. In the hamster hippocampus all the four studied opioid peptides occurred at least in few varicose fibres. In the rat and mouse enkephalinergic boutons formed pericellular baskets around non-principal cells, whereas dynorphin-immunopositive boutons were visualized in similar arrangement around principal cells (both granule and pyramidal cells) in three of the studied species, except the rat. Among other species-specific differences, the presence of leu-enk-immunopositive perikarya in the golden hamster hippocampus, and a highly ordered leu-enk-immunoreactive fibre system exclusively detected in the CA1 area of the guinea-pig hippocampus are noteworthy. The results confirm the high degree of species-specific heterogeneity characterizing the distribution of the opioid peptides in the hippocampal formation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Histology, University of Veterinary Science, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rácz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Füzesi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Halasy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006224:Cricetinae; D004399:Dynorphins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D004723:Endorphins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D004743:Enkephalin, Leucine / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D004744:Enkephalin, Methionine / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008647:Mesocricetus; D051379:Mice; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004723:Endorphins; D004744:Enkephalin, Methionine; D004743:Enkephalin, Leucine; D004399:Dynorphins; C036200:rimorphin