Constant innervation despite pubertal growth of the mouse penis
Constant innervation despite pubertal growth of the mouse penis
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DOI：
10.1002/cne.24892
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发表时间：
2020-09-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Brecht，Michael
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Purkart，Leopold;Sigl-Gloeckner，Johanna;Brecht，Michael
脊椎动物身体的性特征在性激素的控制下发生变化。在哺乳动物中，生殖器在青春期经历重大变化。虽然这种身体变化已经有了很好的记录，但神经系统的相关变化却知之甚少。为了解决这个问题，我们研究了整个青春期小鼠阴茎的生长和神经支配。为此，我们测量了青春期前（3-4周龄）和成年（8-10周龄）小鼠阴茎的长度和厚度，并对阴茎背神经进行了纤维计数。我们通过石蜡包埋和针对蛋白质-基因-产物-9.5或神经丝-H的抗体染色结合抗原修复程序后小鼠阴茎近端切片的共聚焦成像获得了这些计数。我们发现，小鼠阴茎的厚度和长度都增长了大约1.4倍。然而，在青春期前（每个阴茎1，620 ± 165个纤维）和成年（每个阴茎1，572 ± 383个纤维）小鼠中，阴茎背神经的纤维计数没有差异。抗体染色沿着Luxol‐Fast‐Blue髓鞘染色表明约57%的阴茎神经纤维有髓鞘。小鼠体感阴茎皮质面积的定量使我们能够比较阴茎皮质和须-桶-皮质系统的皮质放大率。这一比较表明，阴茎神经纤维的皮质面积比胡须神经纤维少2 - 4倍。小鼠阴茎在整个青春期的恒定神经支配表明，阴茎皮质放大率的青春期增加不仅仅是外周变化的反映。
The sexual characteristics of the vertebrate body change under the control of sex hormones. In mammals, genitals undergo major changes in puberty. While such bodily changes have been well documented, the associated changes in the nervous system are poorly understood. To address this issue, we studied the growth and innervation of the mouse penis throughout puberty. To this end, we measured length and thickness of the mouse penis in prepubertal (3–4 week old) and adult (8–10 week old) mice and performed fiber counts of the dorsal penile nerve. We obtained such counts with confocal imaging of proximal sections of the mouse penis after paraffin embedding and antibody staining against Protein‐Gene‐Product‐9.5 or Neurofilament‐H in combination with antigen retrieval procedures. We find that the mouse penis grows roughly 1.4 times in both thickness and length. Fiber counts in the dorsal penile nerve were not different in prepubertal (1,620 ± 165 fibers per penis) and adult (1,572 ± 383 fibers per penis) mice, however. Antibody staining along with myelin staining by Luxol‐Fast‐Blue suggested about 57% of penile nerve fibers were myelinated. Quantification of the area of mouse somatosensory penis cortex allowed us to compare cortical magnification of the penile cortex and the whisker‐barrel‐cortex systems. This comparison suggested that 2 to 4 times less cortical area is devoted to a penile‐nerve‐fiber than to a whisker‐nerve‐fiber. The constant innervation of mouse penis through puberty suggests that the pubertal increase of cortical magnification of the penis is not simply a reflection of peripheral change.