title: Developmental study of vitamin C distribution in children's brainstems by immunohistochemistry.
abstract: Vitamin C (Vit C) is an important antioxidant, exerts powerful neuroprotective brain effects and plays a role in neuronal development and maturation. Vit C is present in brain tissue at higher concentrations than in other organs, but its detailed distribution in brain is unknown. Immunohistochemical detection of this vitamin has been performed by using a highly specific antibody against Vit C. The aim of the present work was to analyze the distribution of Vit C in children's brainstems during postnatal development, comparing two groups of ages: younger and older than one year of life. In general, the same areas showing neurons with Vit C in young cases are also immunostained at older ages. The distribution of neurons containing Vit C was broader in the brainstems of older children, suggesting that brainstem neurons maintain or even increase their ability to retain Vit C along the life span. Immunohistochemical labeling revealed only cell bodies containing this vitamin, and no immunoreactive fibers were observed. The distribution pattern of Vit C in children's brainstems suggests a possible role of Vit C in brain homeostatic regulation. In addition, the constant presence of Vit C in neurons of locus coeruleus supports the important role of Vit C in noradrenaline synthesis, which seemed to be maintained along postnatal development.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Neurociencias de Castilla y León (INCYL), Laboratorio de Neuroanatomía de los Sistemas Peptidérgicos, c/Pintor Fernando Gallego 1, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain. Electronic address: covenas@usal.es.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Coveñas
authors.affiliation: Neurobiología Celular y Química Molecular (Human Neuroanatomy Laboratory), Facultades de Medicina y Farmacia, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Biomédicas (CRIB), Avenida de Almansa 14, 02006 Albacete, Spain. Electronic address: Joaquin.GFuentes@uclm.es.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: González-Fuentes
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Anatomía Patológica, Hospital Virgen del Rocío, Avenida Manuel Siurot s/n., 41013 Sevilla, Spain. Electronic address: eloy.rivas.sspa@juntadeandalucia.es.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rivas-Infante
authors.affiliation: Neurobiología Celular y Química Molecular (Human Neuroanatomy Laboratory), Facultades de Medicina y Farmacia, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Biomédicas (CRIB), Avenida de Almansa 14, 02006 Albacete, Spain; Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Center for Neural Computation, Norwegian University for Sciences and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway. Electronic address: MariaJose.Lagartos@uclm.es.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lagartos-Donate
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Neurociencias de Castilla y León (INCYL), Laboratorio de Neuroanatomía de los Sistemas Peptidérgicos, c/Pintor Fernando Gallego 1, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain; Institut pour le Développement de la Recherche en Pathologie Humaine et Thérapeutique (IDRPHT), 33400 Talence, France; Gemacbio, Lieu dit Berganton, 33127 Saint Jean d'Illac, France. Electronic address: mangasam@usal.es.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mangas
authors.affiliation: Institut pour le Développement de la Recherche en Pathologie Humaine et Thérapeutique (IDRPHT), 33400 Talence, France; Gemacbio, Lieu dit Berganton, 33127 Saint Jean d'Illac, France. Electronic address: mg.idrpht@wanadoo.fr.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Geffard
authors.affiliation: Neurobiología Celular y Química Molecular (Human Neuroanatomy Laboratory), Facultades de Medicina y Farmacia, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Biomédicas (CRIB), Avenida de Almansa 14, 02006 Albacete, Spain. Electronic address: Mariamar.Arroyo@uclm.es.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Arroyo-Jiménez
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Neuroanatomía Humana, Facultad de Medicina de Albacete, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Biomédicas (CRIB), Avenida de Almansa 14, 02006 Albacete, Spain. Electronic address: Sandra.Cebada@alu.uclm.es.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cebada-Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Neuroanatomía Humana, Facultad de Medicina de Albacete, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Biomédicas (CRIB), Avenida de Almansa 14, 02006 Albacete, Spain. Electronic address: Ricardo.Insausti@uclm.es.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Insausti
authors.affiliation: Neurobiología Celular y Química Molecular (Human Neuroanatomy Laboratory), Facultades de Medicina y Farmacia, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Biomédicas (CRIB), Avenida de Almansa 14, 02006 Albacete, Spain. Electronic address: Pilar.Marcos@uclm.es.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marcos
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008125:Locus Coeruleus / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D001205:Ascorbic Acid
keywords: Brainstem; Children; Development; Mapping; Vitamin C