Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 5, 3393-3402, Copyright © 1985 by Society for Neuroscience
Coexistence of adenosine deaminase, histidine decarboxylase, and glutamate decarboxylase in hypothalamic neurons of the rat
E Senba, PE Daddona, T Watanabe, JY Wu and JI Nagy
Neurons immunoreactive for the enzyme adenosine deaminase (ADA) in the
posterior basal hypothalamus of the rat have a distribution pattern similar
to those immunoreactive for histidine decarboxylase (HDC) and are
particularly numerous in the tuberal (TM), caudal (CM) and postmammillary
caudal (PCM) hypothalamic magnocellular nuclei which harbor neurons
containing glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD). The extent to which these
enzymes coexist within neurons of these hypothalamic regions was examined
using either serial sections or simultaneous immunostaining for ADA and HDC
or GAD in the same section. Analysis of serial sections revealed neuronal
coexistence of ADA with HDC or GAD in both TM and CM. In addition some
neurons in CM, the only area examined for triple coexistence, were found to
contain all three enzymes. In sections processed for ADA simultaneously
with HDC or GAD, nearly all ADA-immunoreactive neurons in TM, CM, and PCM
as well as those scattered between these nuclei were found to contain HDC,
and nearly all contained GAD. Exceptions to this, however, were small cells
located lateral to the posterior arcuate nucleus, which appeared to contain
ADA but not HDC, and large neurons located at the anterior extreme of TM,
which appeared to contain ADA but not GAD. The relatively few ADA- compared
with GAD-containing neural systems in brain, together with the presence of
ADA in GAD-containing hypothalamic magnocellular neurons, which appear to
have widespread projections throughout the brain, indicate that ADA may be
a convenient immunohistochemical marker for anatomical investigations of
these projections.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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