title: Birth-date dependent arrangement of spinal enkephalinergic neurons: evidence from the preproenkephalin-green fluorescent protein transgenic mice.
abstract: Enkephalin (ENK) has been postulated to play important roles in modulating nociceptive transmission, and it has been proved that ENKergic neurons acted as a critical component of sensory circuit in the adult spinal cord. Revealing the developmental characteristics of spinal ENKergic neurons will be helpful for understanding the formation and alteration of the sensory circuit under pain status. However, the relationship between the embryonic birth date and the adult distribution of ENKergic neurons has remained largely unknown due to the difficulties in visualizing the ENKergic neurons clearly. Taking advantage of the preproenkephalin-green fluorescent protein (PPE-GFP) transgenic mice in identifying ENKergic neurons, we performed the current birth-dating study and examined the spinal ENKergic neurogenesis. The ENKergic neurons born on different developmental stages and their final location during adulthood were investigated by combining bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation and GFP labeling. The spinal ENKergic neurogenesis was restricted at E9.5 to E14.5, and fitted in the same pattern of spinal neurogenesis. Further comparative analysis revealed that spinal ENKergic neurons underwent heterogeneous characteristics. Our study also indicated that the laminar arrangement of ENKergic neurons in the superficial spinal dorsal horn depended on the neurogenesis stages. Taken together, the present study suggested that the birth date of ENKergic neurons is one determinant for their arrangement and function.
authors: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology & K.K. Leung Brain Research Centre, Preclinical School of Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology & K.K. Leung Brain Research Centre, Preclinical School of Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Huang
authors: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology & K.K. Leung Brain Research Centre, Preclinical School of Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors: Y-Y
authors: YY
authors: Wei
authors: Department of Anesthesiology, School of Stomatology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors: X-X
authors: XX
authors: Sun
authors: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology & K.K. Leung Brain Research Centre, Preclinical School of Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology & K.K. Leung Brain Research Centre, Preclinical School of Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Bai
authors: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology & K.K. Leung Brain Research Centre, Preclinical School of Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors: Y-Y
authors: YY
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Morphological Brain Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Kaneko
authors: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology & K.K. Leung Brain Research Centre, Preclinical School of Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China. Electronic address: deptanat@fmmu.edu.cn.
authors: Y-Q
authors: YQ
authors: Li
authors: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology & K.K. Leung Brain Research Centre, Preclinical School of Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China. Electronic address: shengxi@fmmu.edu.cn.
authors: S-X
authors: SX
authors: Wu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004745:Enkephalins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D055495:Neurogenesis; D020671:Posterior Horn Cells / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004745:Enkephalins; D011498:Protein Precursors; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; C033660:preproenkephalin
keywords: BrdU; Bromodeoxyuridine; E; ENK; GFP; P; PB; PBS; PFA; PPE; RT; SDH; embryonic day; enkephalin; green fluorescent protein; i.p.; intraperitoneal; neurogenesis; paraformaldehyde; phosphate buffer; phosphate-buffered solution; postnatal day; preproenkephalin; room temperature; spinal cord; spinal dorsal horn; transgenic mice