MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR APPROACH FOR THE ANALYSIS ON THE REGULATION OF HYPOTHALAMIC CONTROL AND LATERALIZATION

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Endocrine organs are regulated by the control of the brain. This regulation is classified into two parts, humoral and neurogenic. The present study was undertaken to elucidate the molecular and cellular control of hypothalamic neurons the endocrine cells, particularly emphasized on the role of lateralization in the hypothalamus. To investigate the neuronal projection to and from the spinal cord, cholera toxin was applied to the peripheral tissues and retrograde transport to the neurons in the spinal cord and ganglia was visualized. Ventral and dorsal roots sections induced the changes of the distribution of chemical transmitter substances, such as CGRP, enkephalin, substance P, serotonin and galanin. CGRP-and substance P-immunoreactive nerve fibers were significantly decreaseat the operated side by the root section, whereas enkephalin-,serotonin-,and galanin-immunoreactive nerve fibers did not show any changes ispilaterally as well as contralaterally. Spinal cords from the fetus or neonatal period were transplanted into the anterior chamber of the eye, and the changes of the transmitter substances were observed in a isolated condition. In this condition, there were two types of the changes in the distributional pattern of immunoreactive nerve fibers; some fibers showed different distribution compared to the control, but some did not. Steroid hormone receptor-containing cells were distributed in the hypothalamus, particularly in the preoptic area. Long term treatment of estrogen induced significant increase of the number of CGRP-and enkephalin-immunoreactive nerve fibers in the preoptic area, and these cells contained estrogen-receptor in their nucleus. On the contrary, dopaninergic neurons showed an apparent decrease of the number of immunoreactive fibers in the preoptic area. We developed the culture system, and now trying to investigate the effect of steroid hormone on the hypothalamic neurons in vitro.