Neuroanatomical distribution of the melanocortin-4 receptors in male and female rodent brain
Neuroanatomical distribution of the melanocortin-4 receptors in male and female rodent brain
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jchemneu.2010.09.002
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发表时间：
2010-12-01
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Giuliano, Francois
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gelez, Helene;Poirier, Sarah;Giuliano, Francois
黑素皮质素-4受体（MC4-R）在多种生理功能中起着至关重要的作用，从食物摄入、能量稳态、神经内分泌和心血管功能到性反应。介导MC4-R不同作用的脑区和中枢神经元通路在很大程度上仍然未知。我们的目的是利用免疫细胞化学方法，利用针对大鼠MC4-R的特异性抗体，建立MC4-R在雄性和发情雌性大鼠脑切片中的详细神经解剖学分布。我们发现mc4 - r阳性神经元广泛分布于大脑皮层、丘脑、下丘脑和脑干等多个脑区。在男性和女性大脑中，mc4 - r阳性细胞在下丘脑尤其丰富，包括下丘脑室旁核、间隔外侧核、弓形核、视上核、内侧视前区和下丘脑外侧区。梨状皮质、终纹床核、杏仁核内侧和基底外侧核、导水管周围灰核、红核和中缝核均可见中等数量的mc4 - r阳性神经元。在某些脑区，mc4 - r阳性神经元的数量存在二态性差异。在内侧视前区和弓形核中，mc4 - r阳性神经元在女性中明显多于男性，而在下丘脑外侧则相反。这是第一次描述大脑MC4-R定位的神经解剖学分布和性别差异。MC4-R的分布与MC4-R阳性神经元的作用一致，并提供了有关男性和女性控制食物摄入、能量平衡和性反应的电路的进一步信息。(C) 2010 Elsevier B.V.版权所有
The melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4-R) plays a critical role in several physiological functions, from food intake, energy homeostasis, neuroendocrine and cardiovascular function, to sexual responses. The brain regions and the central neuronal pathways mediating the different actions of MC4-R remain largely unknown. We aimed to use immunocytochemistry using a specific antibody against rat MC4-R, to establish the detailed neuroanatomical distribution of MC4-R in brain slices of male and estrous female rats. We demonstrated that MC4-R-positive neurons were widely distributed in several brain regions including the cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus, and brainstem. In both male and female brains, MC4-R-positive cells were especially abundant in the hypothalamus, including the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus, lateral septal nucleus, arcuate nucleus, supraoptic nucleus, medial preoptic area and lateral hypothalamic area. A moderate number of MC4-R-positive neurons were found in the piriform cortex, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, medial and basolateral nuclei of amygdala, periaqueductal gray, red nucleus and raphe nucleus. A dimorphic sexual difference in the number of MC4-R-positive neurons was observed in some brain regions. In the medial preoptic area and arcuate nucleus, MC4-R-positive neurons were significantly more abundant in female than in males, whereas in the lateral hypothalamus the opposite proportion was observed. This is the first time the neuroanatomical distribution, and sex differences, of brain MC4-R localisation have been described. The distribution of MC4-R is consistent with the proposed roles of MC4-R-positive neurons and provides further information about the circuitry controlling food intake, energy balance and sexual responses in both males and females. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.