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Innervation of the pineal gland in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus)

A fluorescence microscopical study

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Summary

The innervation of the pineal gland in the Mongolian gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus, was investigated light microscopically by the Falck-Hillarp fluorescence technique and by conventional light microscopy. The pineal gland displayed a superficial portion just beneath the confluens sinuum and a deep part (lamina intercalaris) connected by a slender pineal stalk, which contained pinealocytes. The superficial part of the pineal gland consisted of dark-stained pinealocytes arranged in lobules, and separated by interstitial cells and connective tissue spaces. Many larger chromophobe cells were scattered throughout this region. A heavy catecholaminergic innervation of the superficial portion of the pineal organ, probably via the conarian nerve, with green fluorescent nerve fibres showing excitation/emission maxima of 415/475 nm was observed. Green fluorescent nerve fibres were also observed in the pineal stalk, from where some fibres turned rostrally indicating a nervous connection between the brain and the pineal organ. The pinealocytes showed a yellow fluorescence displaying a broad excitation curve with a maximum of 380–430 nm and an emission maximum at 505 nm. This indicates the presence of both serotonin and a catecholamine in the pinealocytes. Yellow fluorescence of the cells in the lamina intercalaris was also observed.

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  1. Anatomy Department A and B, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    J. T. Nielsen & M. Møller

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  1. J. T. Nielsen
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Stipendiary scholar, University of Copenhagen

Acknowledgements. The authors wish to thank Drs. A Björklund, O. Lindvall and L. Wiklund, Department of Histology, University of Lund, for helpful advice and suggestions. The microspectrofluorometry was performed at the Department of Histology, Lund. We are also grateful to K. Romer for photographical assistance and K. Pedersen for typing the manuscript

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Nielsen, J.T., Møller, M. Innervation of the pineal gland in the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus). Cell Tissue Res. 187, 235–250 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00224367

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