Natriuretic peptide binding sites in the brain of the Atlantic hagfish,Myxine glutinosa

✍ Scribed by Donald, John A.; Toop, Tes; Evans, David H.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 986 KB
• Volume: 284
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-010x(19990901)284:4<407::aid-jez7>3.0.co;2-9

✦ Synopsis

We have previously used immunohistochemistry to show that the brain of the hagfish, Myxine glutinosa, contains a rich distribution of natriuretic peptide-immunoreactive elements with the densest distribution occurring in the telencephalon and the diencephalon. In this study, the distribution of 125 I-rat ANP and 125 I-porcine CNP binding sites was determined in the brain of M. glutinosa. The binding pattern of 125 I-rat ANP and 125 I-porcine CNP showed similarities; however, some differences were observed in the olfactory bulb and the caudal brain regions. Specific 125 I-rat ANP and 125 I-porcine CNP binding was observed in the olfactory bulb, outer layers of the pallium, and in regions of the diencephalon. Very little specific binding was observed in the habenula and the primordium hippocampi. In the diencephalon, a distinct zone of specific 125 I-rANP binding separated a region of moderate binding in the lateral regions of the diencephalon from the thalamic and hypothalamic nuclei. Moderate levels of specific 125 I-rANP binding were observed in the mesencephalon and medulla oblongata; little or no 125 I-porcine CNP binding was observed in these regions. The data, in combination with previous immunohistochemical studies, show that the natriuretic peptide system of the hagfish brain is well-developed and suggest that natriuretic peptides have a long evolutionary history as neurotransmitters and/or neuromodulators in the vertebrate brain.