title: The hypothalamic neuropeptide FF network is impaired in hypertensive patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The human hypothalamus contains the neuropeptide FF (NPFF) neurochemical network. Animal experiments demonstrated that NPFF is implicated in the central cardiovascular regulation. We therefore studied expression of this peptide in the hypothalamus of individuals who suffered from essential hypertension (n = 8) and died suddenly due to acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and compared to that of healthy individuals (controls) (n = 6) who died abruptly due to mechanical trauma of the chest.
  
  
  METHODS
  The frozen right part of the hypothalamus was cut coronally into serial sections of 20 μm thickness, and each tenth section was stained immunohistochemically using antibody against NPFF. The central section through each hypothalamic nucleus was characterized by the highest intensity of NPFF immunostaining and thus was chosen for quantitative densitometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In hypertensive patients, the area occupied by NPFF immunostained neuronal elements in the central sections through the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCh), paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (Pa), bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), perinuclear zone (PNZ) of the supraoptic nucleus (SON), dorso- (DMH), ventromedial (VMH) nuclei, and perifornical nucleus (PeF) was dramatically decreased compared to controls, ranging about six times less in the VMH to 15 times less in the central part of the BST (BSTC). The NPFF innervation of both nonstained neuronal profiles and microvasculature was extremely poor in hypertensive patients compared to control.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The decreased NPFF expression in the hypothalamus of hypertensive patients might be a cause of impairment of its interaction with other neurochemical systems, and thereby might be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience Amsterdam ZO, 1105 BA, The Netherlands ; Russian Cardiology Research Center Moscow, 121552, Russia ; Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta Edmonton, AB, T6G 2S2, Canada.
authors.forename: Valeri D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Goncharuk
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Biomedicas, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico Mexico City, 04510, Mexico.
authors.forename: Ruud M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Buijs
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta Edmonton, AB, T6G 2S2, Canada.
authors.forename: Jack H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Jhamandas
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience Amsterdam ZO, 1105 BA, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Dick F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Swaab
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D009842:Oligopeptides; C053651:phenylalanyl-leucyl-phenylalanyl-glutaminyl-prolyl-glutaminyl-arginyl-phenylalaninamide
keywords: Essential hypertension; hypothalamic cardiovascular regulation; quantitative immunohistochemistry