Abstract
Combined in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) under electron microscopy (EM-ISH & IHC) has sufficient ultrastructural resolution to provide two-dimensional images of subcellular localization of pituitary hormone and its mRNA in a pituitary cell. The advantages of semiconductor nanocrystals (Quantum dots; Qdots) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) enable us to obtain three-dimensional images of the subcellular localization of pituitary hormone and its mRNA. Both EM-ISH & IHC and ISH & IHC using Qdots and CLSM are useful for understanding the relationship between protein and mRNA simultaneously in two or three dimensions. CLSM observation of rab3B and SNARE proteins such as SNAP-25 and syntaxin revealed that both rab3B and SNARE system proteins play an important role and work together as the exocytotic machinery in anterior pituitary cells. Another important issue is the intracellular transport and secretion of pituitary hormone. An experimental pituitary cell line, the GH3 cell, in which growth hormone (GH) is linked to enhanced yellow fluorescein protein (EYFP), has been developed. This stable GH3 cell secretes GH linked to EYFP upon being stimulated by Ca2+ influx or Ca2+ release from storage. This GH3 cell is useful for real-time visualization of the intracellular transport and secretion of GH. These three methods enable us to visualize consecutively the processes of transcription, translation, transport, and secretion of pituitary hormone.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Matsuno A, Utsunomiya H, Ohsugi Y, Takekoshi S, Sanno N, Osamura RY, Nagao K, Tamura A, Nagashima T (1996) Simultane ous ultrastructural identification of growth hormone and its messenger ribonucleic acid using combined immunohistochemistry and non-radioisotopic in situ hybridization: a technical note. Histochem J 28:703–707
Matsuno A, Ohsugi Y, Utsunomiya H, Takekoshi S, Munakata S, Nagao K, Osamura RY, Tamura A, Nagashima T (1998) An improved ultrastructural double-staining method of rat growth hormone and its mRNA using LR White resin: a technical note. Histochem J 30:105–109
Matsuno A, Nagashima T, Osamura RY, Watanabe K (1998) Application of ultrastructural in situ hybridization combined with immunohistochemistry to pathophysiological studies of pituitary cell: technical review. Acta Histochem Cytochem 31:259–265
Matsuno A, Nagashima T, Takekoshi S, Utsunomiya H, Sanno N, Osamura RY, Watanabe K, Tamura A, Teramoto A (1998) Ultrastructural simultaneous identification of growth hormone and its messenger ribonucleic acid. Endocr J 45(suppl):S101–S104
Matsuno A, Itoh J, Osamura RY, Watanabe K, Nagashima T (1999) Electron microscopic and confocal laser scanning microscopic observation of subcellular organelles and pituitary hormone mRNA: application of ultrastructural in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry to the pathophysiological studies of pituitary cells. Endocr Pathol 10:199–211
Matsuno A, Nagashima T, Ohsugi Y, Utsunomiya H, Takekoshi S, Munakata S, Nagao K, Osamura RY, Watanabe K (2000) Electron microscopic observation of intracellular expression of mRNA and its protein product: technical review on ultrastructural in situ hybridization and its combination with immunohistochemistry. Histol Histopathol 15:261–268
Osamura RY, Itoh Y, Matsuno A (2000) Application of plastic embedding to electron microscopic immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization in observations of production and secretion of peptide hormones. J Histochem Cytochem 48:885–892
Osamura RY, Tahara S, Kurotani R, Sanno N, Matsuno A, Teramoto A (2000) Contributions of immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization to the functional analysis of pituitary adenomas. J Histochem Cytochem 48:445–458
Arndt-Jovin DJ, Robert-Nicoud M, Kaufman SJ, Jovin TM (1985) Fluorescence digital imaging microscopy in cell biology. Science 230:247–256
Arndt-Jovin DJ, Robert-Nicoud M, Jovin TM (1990) Probing DNA structure and function with a multi-wavelength fluorescence confocal laser microscope. J Microsc 157:61–72
Bauman JG, Bayer JA, van Dekken H (1990) Fluorescent in-situ hybridization to detect cellular RNA by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. J Microsc 157:73–81
Hozak P, Novak JT, Smetana K (1989) Three-dimensional reconstructions of nucleolus-organizing regions in PHA-stimulated human lymphocytes. Biol Cell 66:225–233
Itoh J, Osamura RY, Watanabe K. (1992) Subcellular visualization of light microscopic specimens by laser scanning microscopy and computer analysis: a new application of image analysis. J Histochem Cytochem 40:955–967
Itoh J, Sanno N, Matsuno A, Itoh Y, Watanabe K, Osamura RY (1997) Application of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) to visualize prolactin (PRL) and PRL mRNA in the normal and estrogen-treated rat pituitary glands using non-fluorescent probes. Microsc Res Tech 39:157–167
Itoh J, Matsuno A, Yamamoto Y, Kawai K, Serizawa A, Watanabe K, Itoh Y, Osamura RY (2001) Confocal laser scanning microscopic imaging of subcellular organelles, mRNA, protein products, and the microvessel environment. Acta Histochem Cytochem 34:285–297
Michel E, Parsons JA (1990) Histochemical and immunocytochemical localization of prolactin receptors on Nb2 lymphoma cells: applications of confocal microscopy. J Histochem Cytochem 38:965–973
Robinson JM, Batten BE (1989) Detection of diaminobenzidine reactions using scanning laser confocal reflectance microscopy. J Histochem Cytochem 37:1761–1765
Takamatsu T, Fujita S (1988) Microscopic tomography by laser scanning microscopy and its three-dimensional reconstruction. J Microsc 149:167–174
Tao W, Walter RJ, Berns MW (1988) Laser-transected microtubules exhibit individuality of regrowth, however most free new ends of the microtubules are stable. J Cell Biol 107:1025–1035
White JG, Amos WB, Fordham M (1987) An evaluation of confocal versus conventional imaging of biological structures by fluorescence light microscopy. J Cell Biol 105:41–48
Bruchez M Jr, Moronne M, Gin P, Weiss S, Alivisatos AP (1998) Semiconductor nanocrystals as fluorescent biological labels. Science 281:2013–2016
Wang C, Shim M, Guyot-Sionnest P (2001) Electrochromic nanocrystal quantum dots. Science 291:2390–2392
Chan WC, Maxwell DJ, Gao X, Bailey RE, Han M, Nie S (2002) Luminescent quantum dots for multiplexed biological detection and imaging. Curr Opin Biotechnol 13:40–46
Gao X, Chan WC, Nie S (2002) Quantum-dot nanocrystals for ultrasensitive biological labeling and multicolor optical encoding. J Biomed Opt 7:532–537
Gao X, Nie S (2003) Molecular profiling of single cells and tissue specimens with quantum dots. Trends Biotechnol 21:371–373
Han M, Gao X, Su JZ, Nie S (2001) Quantum-dot-tagged microbeads for multiplexed optical coding of biomolecules. Nat Biotechnol 19:631–635
Pathak S, Choi SK, Arnheim N, Thompson ME (2001) Hydroxylated quantum dots as luminescent probes for in situ hybridization. J Am Chem Soc 123:4103–4104
Xiao Y, Barker PE (2004) Semiconductor nanocrystal probes for human metaphase chromosomes. Nucleic Acids Res 32:e28
Matsuno A, Itoh J, Takekoshi S, Nagashima T, Osamura RY (2005) Three-dimensional imagings of the intracellular localization of growth hormone and prolactin and their mRNA using nanocrystal (Quantum dot) and confocal laser scanning microscopy techniques. J Histochem Cytochem 53:833–838
Matsuno A, Itoh J, Takekoshi S, Nagashima T, Osamura, RY (2005) Two- or three- dimensional imagings of simultaneous visualization of rat pituitary hormone and its mRNA: comparison between electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy with semiconductor nanocrystals (Quantum dots). Acta Histochem Cytochem 38:253–256
Matsuno A, Itoh J, Takekoshi S, Itoh Y, Ohsugi Y, Katayama H, Nagashima T, Osamura RY (2003) Dynamics of subcellular organelles, growth hormone, rab3b, SNAP-25, and syntaxin in rat pituitary cells caused by growth hormone releasing hormone and somatostatin. Microsc Res Tech 62:232–239
Matsuno A, Itoh J, Takekoshi S, Nagashima T, Osamura RY (2003) Functional and morphological analyses of rab proteins and the soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) system in the secretion of pituitary hormones. Acta Histochem Cytochem 36:501–506
Matsuno A, Mizutani A, Itoh J, Takekoshi S, Nagashima T, Okinaga H, Takano K, Osamura RY (2005) Establishment of stable GH3 cell line expressing enhanced yellow fluorescein protein-growth hormone fusion protein. J Histochem Cytochem 53:1177–1180
Matsuno A, Itoh J, Mizutani A, Takekoshi S, Osamura RY, Okinaga H, Ide F, Miyawaki S, Uno T, Asano S, Tanaka J, Nakaguchi H, Sasaki M, Murakami M (2008) Co-transfection of EYFP-GH and ECFP-rab3B in an experimental pituitary GH3 cell: a role of rab3B in secretion of GH through porosome. Folia Histochem Cytobiol 46:419–421
Lacoste TD, Michalet X, Pinaud F, Chemla DS, Alivisatos AP, Weiss S (2000) Ultrahigh-resolution multicolor colocalization of single fluorescent probes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 97:9461–9466
Michalet X, Pinaud F, Lacoste TD, Dahan M, Bruchez MP, Alivisatos AP, Weiss S (2001) Properties of fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals and their application to biological labeling. Single Mol 4:261–276
Matsuno A, Itoh J, Itoh Y, Osamura RY, Katayama H, Nagashima T (2001) Histopathological analyses of silent pituitary somatotroph adenomas using immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization and confocal laser scanning microscopic observation. Pathol Res Pract 197:13–20
Matsuno A, Itoh J, Nagashima T, Osamura RY, Watanabe K (2001) PROTOCOLS 10: confocal laser scanning microscopy. In: Lloyd RV (ed) Morphology methods: cell and molecular biology techniques. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ, pp 165-180
Itoh J, Yasumura K, Takeshita T, Ishikawa H, Kobayashi H, Ogawa K, Kawai K, Serizawa A, Osamura RY (2000) Three-dimensional imaging of tumor angiogenesis. Anal Quant Cytol Histol 22:85–90
Itoh J, Kawai K, Serizawa A, Yasumura K, Ogawa K, Osamura RY (2000) A new approach to three-dimensional reconstructed imaging of hormone-secreting cells and their microvessel environments in rat pituitary glands by confocal laser scanning microscopy. J Histochem Cytochem 48:569–578
Itoh J, Kawai K, Serizawa A, Yamamoto Y, Ozawa K, Matsuno A, Watanabe K, Osamura RY (2001) Three-dimensional imaging of hormone-secreting cells and their microvessel environments in estrogen-induced prolactinoma of the rat pituitary gland by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol (AIMM) 9:364–370
Itoh J, Yasumura K, Ogawa K, Kawai K, Serizawa A, Yamamoto Y, Osamura RY (2003) Three-dimensional (3D) imaging of tumor angiogenesis and its inhibition: evaluation of tumor vasculartargeting agent efficacy in the DMBA-induced rat breast cancer model by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Acta Histochem Cytochem 36:27–36
Noda T, Kaidzu S, Kikuchi M, Yashiro T (2001) Topographic affinities of hormone-producing cells in the rat anterior pituitary gland. Acta Histochem Cytochem 34:313–319
Robinson JM, Batten BE (1989) Detection of diaminobenzidine reactions using scanning laser confocal reflectance microscopy. J Histochem Cytochem 37:1761–1765
Baba R, Yamami M, Sakuma Y, Fujita M, Fujimoto S (2005) Relationship between glucose transporter and changes in the absorptive system in small intestinal absorptive cells during the weaning process. Med Mol Morphol 38:47–53
Matsuoka T, Kobayashi M, Sugimoto T, Araki K (2005) An immunocytochemical study of regeneration of gastric epithelia in rat experimental ulcers. Med Mol Morphol 38:233–242
Osamura RY, Egashira N, Yamazaki M, Miyai S, Takekoshi S, Kajiwara H, Kumai N, Umemura S, Yasuda M, Sanno N, Teramoto A (2003) Mechanisms for production and secretion of hormones in physiologic and pathologic conditions. Acta Histochem Cytochem 36:99–103
Lledo PM, Vernier P, Vincent JD, Mason WT, Zorec R (1993) Inhibition of Rab3B expression attenuates Ca(2+)-dependent exocytosis in rat anterior pituitary cells. Nature (Lond) 364:540–544
Mizoguchi A (1994) Rab3A-RabGDI-Rabphilin-3A system regulating membrane fusion machinery in the synapse and the growth cone. Acta Histochem Cytochem 27:117–126
Tasaka K, Masumoto N, Mizuki J, Ikebuchi Y, Ohmichi M, Kurachi H, Miyake A, Murata Y (1998) Rab3B is essential for GnRHinduced gonadotrophin release from anterior pituitary cells. J Endocrinol 157:267–274
Tahara S, Sanno N, Teramoto A, Osamura RY (1999) Expression of Rab3, a Ras-related GTP-binding protein, in human nontumorous pituitaries and pituitary adenomas. Mod Pathol 12:627–634
Hess DT, Slater TM, Wilson MC, Skene JH (1992) The 25 kDa synaptosomal-associated protein SNAP-25 is the major methioninerich polypeptide in rapid axonal transport and a major substrate for palmitoylation in adult CNS. J Neurosci 12:4634–4641
Oyler GA, Higgins GA, Hart RA, Battenberg E, Billingsley M, Bloom FE, Wilson MC (1989) The identification of a novel synaptosomal-associated protein, SNAP-25, differentially expressed by neuronal subpopulations. J Cell Biol 109:3039–3052
Bennett MK, Calakos N, Scheller RH (1992) Syntaxin: a synaptic protein implicated in docking of synaptic vesicles at presynaptic active zones. Science 257:255–259
Calakos N, Bennett MK, Peterson KE, Scheller RH (1994) Protein-protein interactions contributing to the specificity of intracellular vesicular trafficking. Science 263:1146–1149
Sollner T, Bennett MK, Whiteheart SW, Scheller RH, Rothman JE (1993) A protein assembly-disassembly pathway in vitro that may correspond to sequential steps of synaptic vesicle docking, activation, and fusion. Cell 75:409–418
Sollner T, Whiteheart SW, Brunner M, Erdjument-Bromage H, Geromanos S, Tempst P, Rothman JE (1993) SNAP receptors implicated in vesicle targeting and fusion. Nature (Lond) 362:318–324
Garcia EP, Gatti E, Butler M, Burton J, De Camilli P (1994) A rat brain Sec1 homologue related to Rop and UNC18 interacts with syntaxin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 91:2003–2007
Hata Y, Slaughter CA, Sudhof TC (1993) Synaptic vesicle fusion complex contains unc-18 homologue bound to syntaxin. Nature (Lond) 366:347–351
Pevsner J, Hsu SC, Scheller RH (1994) n-Sec1: a neural-specific syntaxin-binding protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 91:1445–1449
Pevsner J, Hsu SC, Braun JE, Calakos N, Ting AE, Bennett MK, Scheller RH (1994) Specificity and regulation of a synaptic vesicle docking complex. Neuron 13:353–361
Jacobsson G, Meister B (1996) Molecular components of the exocytotic machinery in the rat pituitary gland. Endocrinology 137: 5344–5356
Salinas E, Quintanar JL, Reig JA (1999) Immunohistochemical study of Syntaxin-1 and SNAP-25 in the pituitaries of mouse, guinea pig and cat. Acta Physiol Pharmacol Ther Latinoam 49:61–64
Quintanar JL, Salinas E (2002) Effect of hypothyroidism on synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa and syntaxin-1 expression in adenohypophyses of rat. J Endocrinol Invest 25:754–758
Tsien RY (1998) The green fluorescent protein. Annu Rev Biochem 67:509–544
Magoulas C, McGuinness L, Balthasar N, Carmignac DF, Sesay AK, Mathers KE, Christian H, Candeil L, Bonnefont X, Mollard P, Robinson ICAF (2000) A secreted fluorescent reporter targeted to pituitary growth hormone cells in transgenic mice. Endocrinology 141:4681–4689
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Matsuno, A., Mizutani, A., Okinaga, H. et al. Functional molecular morphology of anterior pituitary cells, from hormone production to intracellular transport and secretion. Med Mol Morphol 44, 63–70 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00795-011-0545-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00795-011-0545-4