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Oxytocin neurons in the rat hypothalamus exhibit c-fos immunoreactivity upon osmotic stress

1990; Elsevier BV; Volume: 531; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0006-8993(90)90789-e

1872-6240

Lisa Giovannelli, Priyattam J. Shiromani, Gustav F. Jirikowski, Floyd E. Bloom,

Neuroscience of respiration and sleep

In order to evaluate the responses to osmotic stress of oxytocinergic neurons in vivo, we have studied oxytocin (OXY) and c-fos protein expression in the brain by means of double-immunostaining. C-fos immunoreactivity was detected in a subset of OXY neurons, as well as in other neurons non-immunoreactive for OXY, as early as 90 min after intraperitoneal injection of a hypertonic saline solution. C-fos expression was found in approx. 70% of OXY-immunoreactive neurons in the supraoptic (SON), lateral subcommisural (LSN) and paraventricular (PVN) nuclei, and not in OXY neurons in other hypothalamic areas. The expression of c-fos may be used as a means to map the circuitry by which osmotic stimulation activates OXY-containing neurons, and thus provide further insights into the functions with which OXY may be associated.