Dopamine plasma membrane transporter (DAT) in rat thymus and spleen: an immunochemical and immunohistochemical study.
The expression of the dopamine plasma membrane transporter (DAT) was investigated in rat thymus and spleen by immunochemical and immunohistochemical techniques. Antibodies raised against a peptide mapping near the amino terminus of DAT were bound to a single band of approximately 76 kDa in thymus and spleen membranes as well as in striatal and kidney membranes which were used as dopaminergic reference tissues. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that both thymus and spleen expressed DAT mRNA. Immunohistochemistry revealed in rat thymus a DAT immune reaction in the wall of arteries located in septa of connective tissue as well as in the medulla, with a reticular localization and an apparent negative reaction of thymocytes. In the spleen, DAT immunoreactivity was located primarily in the red-white pulp marginal zone, within small cells, likely corresponding to lymphocytes and in the wall of white pulp arteries. The presence of a dopamine transporter suggests that dopamine released in the lymphoid microenvironment may contribute to neuroimmune modulation. It cannot be excluded a different activity of dopamine in primary and secondary immune organs, such as maturation and selection of lymphocytes and activation of immune responses in the spleen.
Anatomia Umana, Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Sanitá Pubblica, Universitá di Camerino, Via Scalzino 3, 62032 Camerino, Italy.
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D000818:Animals; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013154:Spleen / Q000378:metabolism*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000378:metabolism*
D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger