Nigrostriatal projecting neurons express GDNF receptor subunit RET in adult rats.
Nigrostriatal neurons expressing RET protein, a receptor protein tyrosine kinase of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) were investigated in rats using retrograde neural tracing with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) combined with immunohistochemistry. HR/RET double-labeled neurons were abundantly distributed in the substantia nigra pars compacta ipsilateral to the caudate-putamen stereotaxically injected with HRP. Almost all the HRP-labeled neurons in nigra exhibited RET-like immunoreactivity, which however constituted more than half of the RET-immunoreactive cells. Our results present morphological evidence that GDNF-RET interaction plays important roles in physiological processes of nigrostriatal neuronal circuits of mammals.
He
Shi-Ming
SM
Department of Neurosurgery, Institute for functional neurosurgery P.L.A, TangDu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xiian, P.R. China.
Zhao
Zhen-Wei
ZW
Zhao
Lei
L
Wang
Xue-Lian
XL
Jia
Dong
D
Hou
Fang
F
Gao
Guo-Dong
GD
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051100:Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
D051100:Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D006735:Horseradish Peroxidase; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret; C495001:Ret protein, rat