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The nucleus lateralis tuberis system of the gobiid fish Gillichthys mirabilis

I. Ultrastructural and histochemical characterization of the nucleus

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Summary

The nucleus lateralis tuberis (NLT) system of the teleost fish Gillichthys mirabilis was studied with respect to the anatomical organization and distribution of the neurosecretory neurons and the nature of their secretory material. NLT neurons occur in several different areas in the tuberal region of the hypothalamus, located immediately above the pituitary gland. Only the lateral and rostral NLT neurons show definite secretory activity. These neurons, generally of large size, contain numerous large granulated vesicles (LGV), 900–1,000 Å in diameter; on the other hand, the medial and ventrolateral neurons, forming a single layer of cells, are of small size and do not appear to be secretory. LGV are positive after ethanol-phosphotungstic acid (E-PTA) and zinc iodide-osmium tetroxide (ZIO) impregnations. Lateral and rostral neurosecretory neurons also show strong yellow-to-green specific fluorescence after the Falck-Hillarp technique, a strong indication that LGV are the site of catecholamine storage.

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  1. David Zambrano

    Present address: Instituto de Anatomía General y Embriología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Paraguay 2155, Buenos Aires, Argentina

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  1. Department of Zoology and its Cancer Research Genetics Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley

    David Zambrano

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Associated Investigator, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Técnicas, Argentina. Recipient of National Institutes of Health International Postdoctoral Fellowship 1-F05-TW-1330.

I am indebted to Professor Howard A. Bern and Mr. Richard S. Nishioka for valuable advice and critical reading of the manuscript. Thanks are also due to Mrs. Emily Reid who prepared the graphs and Mr. John Underhill and Mr. Alfred Blaker for photographic work. This study was aided by National Science Foundation grant GB 6424 to Professor Bern.

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Zambrano, D. The nucleus lateralis tuberis system of the gobiid fish Gillichthys mirabilis . Z. Zellforsch. 110, 9–26 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00343982

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