title: Distribution of alarin immunoreactivity in the mouse brain.
abstract: Alarin is a 25 amino acid peptide that belongs to the galanin peptide family. It is derived from the galanin-like peptide gene by a splice variant, which excludes exon 3. Alarin was first identified in gangliocytes of neuroblastic tumors and later shown to have a vasoactive function in the skin. Recently, alarin was demonstrated to stimulate food intake as well as the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in rodents, suggesting that it might be a neuromodulatory peptide in the brain. However, the individual neurons in the central nervous system that express alarin have not been identified. Here, we determined the distribution of alarin-like immunoreactivity (alarin-LI) in the adult murine brain. The specificity of the antibody against alarin was demonstrated by the absence of labeling after pre-absorption of the antiserum with synthetic alarin peptide and in transgenic mouse brains lacking neurons expressing the GALP gene. Alarin-LI was observed in different areas of the murine brain. A high intensity of alarin-LI was detected in the accessory olfactory bulb, the medial preoptic area, the amygdala, different nuclei of the hypothalamus such as the arcuate nucleus and the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, the trigeminal complex, the locus coeruleus, the ventral chochlear nucleus, the facial nucleus, and the epithelial layer of the plexus choroideus. The distinct expression pattern of alarin in the adult mouse brain suggests potential functions in reproduction and metabolism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Laura Bassi Centre of Expertise THERAPEP, Research Program for Receptor Biochemistry and Tumormetabolism, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, 5020, Austria.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Eberhard
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.forename: Radmila
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Santic
authors.forename: Ruben Peco
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Navio
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Hans Christian
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Guenther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sperk
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Boehm
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kofler
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D017398:Alternative Splicing / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D000937:Antigen-Antibody Reactions / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D044089:Galanin-Like Peptide / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D011817:Rabbits; D014018:Tissue Distribution / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D044089:Galanin-Like Peptide; D009479:Neuropeptides