title: Axonal transport of zinc transporter 3 and zinc containing organelles in the rodent adrenergic system.
abstract: Zinc is the second most abundant trace metal (after iron) in mammalian tissues, and it is an essential element for growth, development, DNA synthesis, immunity, and other important cellular processes. A considerable amount of zinc in the brain exists as a pool of free or loosely bound zinc ions in synaptic vesicles with zinc transporter 3 (ZnT3) in their membranes. Here we demonstrate that also in the peripheral sympathetic nervous system zinc handling neurons exist. In autonomic ganglia of rats and mice a subset of neuronal cell bodies contain zinc, visualized by the autometallographic (AMG) and TSQ histochemical methods. The Zn-transporter 3 is, as shown by immunofluorescence, also present in tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive neurons, but rarely in cell bodies with neuropeptide Y (NPY)-immunoreactivity (IR). In axons of crush-operated sciatic nerves a rapid bidirectional accumulation of AMG granules occurred. Also ZnT3-IR was found to accumulate rapidly in anterograde as well as retrograde direction, colocalized with TH-IR. So far nerve terminals with ZnT3-IR have not been observed. The functional significance of zinc ions in the sympathetic system is not known.
authors: Department of Histology and Embryology, China Medical University, Shenyang, 110001, People's Republic of China. wangzy@mail.cmu.edu.cn
authors: Zhan-You
authors: ZY
authors: Wang
authors: Annica
authors: A
authors: Dahlström
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D051379:Mice; D015388:Organelles / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011941:Receptors, Adrenergic / Q000378:metabolism*; D015032:Zinc / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D011941:Receptors, Adrenergic; C491177:Slc30a3 protein, mouse; C503697:zinc transporter 3, rat; D015032:Zinc