Abstract
By means of double-label immunocytochemistry, authors studied the presence of estrogen receptor α (ER-α) protein in vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGluT2) protein-immunoreactive neurons in the female rat hypothalamus and amygdala. They examined colocalization of the 2 immunoreactive proteins in structures in which they found a significant overlap in the localization of the distribution of ER-α- and VGluT2-immunopositive nerve cells, namely in the medial preoptic area, the ventral subdivision of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, and the medial amygdaloid nucleus. In the medial preoptic area, only 2.74 % of ER-α-immunoreactive neurons were VGluT2 positive, and conversely, 5 % of VGluT2-immunoreactive neurons contained ER-α immunofluorescent labeling. Highest degree of colocalization was detected in the ventral subdivision of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, where 22.81 % of the ER-α-immunopositive neurons were VGluT2 immunoreactive and 37.14 % of the VGluT2-immunolabeled neurons contained ER-α-positive nucleus. In the medial amygdaloid nucleus, 15.38 % of the ER-α and 18.1 % of the VGluT2-immunoreactive neurons were double labeled. The colocalizations suggest that glutamatergic (VGluT2 protein immunoreactive) neurons are involved in the mediation of the action of estrogen on the rat brain.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are extremely grateful to Dr. Márk Oláh for his very significant contribution to the preparation of the manuscript, similarly to Mrs O. Balásházy for excellent assistance in references and for typing the manuscript. This work was supported by the Ministry of Health (ETT 077/2009 to B. H.) and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (to B. H.).
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Kiss, J., Csaba, Z., Csáki, Á. et al. Demonstration of estrogen receptor α protein in glutamatergic (vesicular glutamate transporter 2 immunoreactive) neurons of the female rat hypothalamus and amygdala using double-label immunocytochemistry. Exp Brain Res 226, 595–602 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3474-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3474-8