title: Urotensin II-immunoreactivity in the brainstem and spinal cord of the rat.
abstract: The distribution of urotensin-II-immunoreactivity (irU-II) was studied in the rat brainstem and spinal cord with the use of an antiserum against the human urotensin II (U-II) peptide. A population of ventral horn neurons in the spinal cord, hypoglossal nucleus, dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus, facial motor nucleus, nucleus ambiguus, abducens nucleus and trigeminal motor nucleus exhibited irU-II of varying intensities. The number of irU-II motor neurons was higher in the lumbar segments as compared to that of cervical, thoracic and sacral segments. Double-labeling the sections with U-II- and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-antisera revealed that nearly all irU-II ventral horn and brainstem neurons were ChAT-positive. The result provides the first immunohistochemical evidence of the presence of irU-II in cholinergic motoneurons of the rat spinal cord and brainstem.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, James H. Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, PO Box 70577, Johnson City, TN 37614, USA.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Dun
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Brailoiu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Dun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008161:Lumbosacral Region; D008297:Male; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014579:Urotensins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014579:Urotensins; C029677:urotensin II; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase