title: Localization of plasminogen in mouse hippocampus, cerebral cortex, and hypothalamus.
abstract: Although the tissue plasminogen activator/plasminogen system contributes to numerous brain functions, such as learning, memory, and anxiety behavior, little attention has as yet been given to the localization of plasminogen in the brain. We have investigated the localization of plasminogen in the adult mouse brain by using immunohistochemistry. In the hippocampus, plasminogen immunoreactivity was seen in the pyramidal cell layer as numerous punctate structures in neuronal somata. An electron-microscopic study further demonstrated that the plasminogen-immunoreactive punctate structures represented secretory vesicles and/or vesicle clusters. In the cerebral cortex, plasminogen immunoreactivity was evident in the somata of the layer II/III and V neurons. A quantitative analysis revealed that parvalbumin (PV)-positive neurons had more plasminogen-immunoreactive puncta compared with those of PV-negative neurons in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Plasminogen immunoreactivity was present throughout the hypothalamus, being particularly prominent in the neuronal somata of the organum vasculosum laminae terminalis, ventromedial preoptic nucleus, supraoptic nucleus, subfornical organ, medial part of the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), posterior part of the PVN, and arcuate hypothalamic nucleus. Thus, plasminogen is highly expressed in specific populations of hippocampal, cortical, and hypothalamic neurons, and plasminogen-containing vesicles are mainly observed at neuronal somata.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biology, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Shoko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.forename: Yoshikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nikaido
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.forename: Nobuo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Kiyotaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Matsuo
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyata
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000737:chemistry*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000737:chemistry*; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000737:chemistry*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009474:Neurons / Q000737:chemistry; D010286:Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000737:chemistry; D010958:Plasminogen / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010958:Plasminogen