Β-endorphin-immunoreactive perikarya appear to receive innervation from NPY-immunoreactive fiber varicosities in the human hypothalamus.
In: Brain Structure & Function, Jg. 227 (2022-04-01), Heft 3, S. 821-828
Online
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Zugriff:
Morphological and pharmacological studies indicate that hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY) and proopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons communicate with each other in rats and regulate a variety of hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic functions. Indeed, electron microscopic studies revealed NPY-immunoreactive (NPI-IR) synapses on β-endorphin-IR neurons in the hypothalamus. However, no such connections have been reported in humans. Here, we studied the putative NPY–β-endorphin associations with high-resolution light microscopic double-label immunocytochemistry in the human hypothalamus. The majority of β-endorphin-IR perikarya appear to be innervated by abutting NPY-IR fibers in the infundibulum/median eminence, receiving more than 6 contacts (38% of the counted neurons) or three to six contacts (42% of the counted neurons). The rest of the β-endorphin-IR neurons are lightly innervated by NPY fibers (14%, one–three contacts) or do not receive any detectable NPY-IR axon varicosities (6% of the counted neurons). Since β-endorphin is cleaved from the proopiomelanocortin (POMC) precursor, the NPY–β-endorphin connections also provide the foundation for NPY–α-MSH and NPY–ACTH connections and their subsequent physiology. The close anatomical connections between NPY-IR nerve terminals and β-endorphin-IR neurons reported herein may represent functional synapses and provide the foundation for NPY-stimulated β-endorphin release. By interacting with β-endorphin, NPY may have a more widespread regulatory capacity than acting alone on different neurotransmitter systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Β-endorphin-immunoreactive perikarya appear to receive innervation from NPY-immunoreactive fiber varicosities in the human hypothalamus.
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Dudas, Bertalan ; Merchenthaler, Istvan |
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Zeitschrift: | Brain Structure & Function, Jg. 227 (2022-04-01), Heft 3, S. 821-828 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2022 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
ISSN: | 1863-2653 (print) |
DOI: | 10.1007/s00429-021-02416-3 |
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