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The Journal of Neuroscience, March 15, 1999, 19(6):2288-2300

The Distribution of Zinc Selenite and Expression of Metallothionein-III mRNA in the Spinal Cord and Dorsal Root Ganglia of the Rat Suggest a Role for Zinc in Sensory Transmission

Rubén A. Velázquez¹, Yongjiu Cai², Qiuying Shi², and Alice A. Larson^{1, 2}

¹ Graduate Program in Neuroscience and ² Department of Veterinary PathoBiology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108

Zinc appears to play a role in synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. We tested the hypothesis that zinc is similarly involved in sensory transmission by determining whether vesicular zinc and metallothionein-III (MT-III), a zinc-binding protein, are localized in rat primary afferent neurons. MT-III mRNA, measured using RT-PCR, and MT-III immunoreactivity, were both present in the spinal cord as well as the thoracic and lumbar dorsal root ganglia (DRG). At a time (24 hr) that allows retrograde transport of zinc selenite to cell bodies, only small-diameter neurons and neurons scattered throughout lamina V of the spinal cord were stained by sodium selenite injected intrathecally. This stain disappeared if a ligature was placed on the dorsal root to block axonal transport, demonstrating that these cells are, in fact, zinc-containing primary afferent neurons. When assessed 1 hr after sodium selenite, stain was distributed throughout the neuropil of the spinal cord, especially in lamina III and the area surrounding the central canal. Even in rhizotomized animals, large- and small-diameter DRG neuronal cell bodies were also stained with either selenite (1 hr) or 6-methoxy 8-para-toluene sulfonamide quinoline (TSQ). Paradoxically, this unique pool of zinc was eliminated in large-diameter DRG neurons after neonatal capsaicin treatment, which had no effect on selenite stain or MT-III mRNA content in small-diameter DRG neurons. In summary, we demonstrate that there is a population of capsaicin-insensitive small-diameter primary afferent neurons that are zinc-containing. In addition, there is a unique pool of capsaicin-sensitive zinc that is associated with large-diameter cell bodies.

Key words: zinc; sensory systems; dorsal horn; spinal cord; dorsal root ganglia; sodium selenite; RT-PCR; immunofluorescence

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Copyright © 1999 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/99/1962288-13$05.00/0

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