title: Colocalization of taurine and glial fibrillary acidic protein immunoreactivity in mouse hippocampus induced by short-term ethanol exposure.
abstract: Morphological changes of the hippocampus were investigated in mice exhibiting signs of intoxication following short-term exposure to 6% ethanol. These alterations were examined by a double immunofluorescent study using antibodies to taurine and anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) antibody. Antibody-labeled taurine was localized mainly in the astrocytes and endothelial cells of control mice. Ethanol administration resulted in a significant increase in the accumulation of taurine and GFAP immunoreactivity (IR) in the stratum lacunosum-moleculare (sl-m) of the hippocampus. Specifically, the cell bodies of taurine-positive astrocytes were hypertrophied, their processes were elongated in the pericapillary region, and some colocalized with GFAP-IR cells. Furthermore, quantitative analysis revealed that the merged area in ethanol-treated mice was twice that (71.6% vs. 35.8%) of control mice. Since taurine is involved in various neuroprotective functions, the present observations suggest that the expression of taurine IR in reactive astrocytes after ethanol exposure might play an important role in neuroprotective processes.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Laboratory, Medical Research Laboratories, Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., 403 Yoshino-cho 1-chome, Saitama-shi, Saitama, 330-8530, Japan.
authors.forename: Takanobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Takanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miki
authors.forename: Hong Peng
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miyatake
authors.forename: Irawan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Satriotomo
authors.forename: Yoshiki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000633:toxicity*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000633:toxicity*; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D013654:Taurine / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D013654:Taurine; D000431:Ethanol