Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of tunicamycin on the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system of the rat

  • Published:
Cell and Tissue Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Intracisternal injections of tunicamycin, an inhibitor of glycosylation, decreased the incorporation of [35S]cysteine into the neurophysins in the rat neurohypophysis. Histochemical and immunocytochemical studies showed that there was no concomitant decrease in the amount of secretory product in the perikarya of the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial neurones. Indeed there was an increase, although this was not associated with neurosecretory granules as judged electron-microscopically. Tunicamycin led to the formation of socalled “colloid droplets” which were immunopositive and of which the ultrastructural correlates appeared to be product-filled dilatations of the rough endoplasmic reticulum. The observations are interpreted to suggest that glycosylation plays a rôle in the packaging of secretory material in the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Brownstein MJ, Russell JT, Gainer H (1980) Synthesis, transport and release of posterior pituitary hormones. Science 207:373–378

    Google Scholar 

  • Burford GD, Pickering BT (1972) The number of neurophysins in the rat. Influence of the concentration of bromophenol blue used as a tracking dye, on the resolution of proteins by polyacrylamidegel electrophoresis. Biochem J 128:941–944

    Google Scholar 

  • Burford GD, Pickering BT (1973) Intraaxonal transport and turnover of neurophysin in the rat. A proposal for a possible origin of the minor neurophysin component. Biochem J 136:1047–1052

    Google Scholar 

  • Eipper BA, Mains RE (1977) Peptide analysis of a glycoprotein form of adrenocorticotropic hormone. J Biol Chem 252:8821–8832

    Google Scholar 

  • Eipper BA, Mains RE, Guenzi D (1976) High molecular weight forms of adrenocorticotropic hormone are glycoproteins. J Biol Chem 251:4121–4126

    Google Scholar 

  • Eylar EH (1965) On the biological role of glycoproteins. J Theor Biol 10:89–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Flament-Durand J, Dustin P (1972) Studies on the transport of secretory granules in the magnocellular hypothalamic neurones. I. Action of colchicine on axonal flow and neurotubules in the para ventricular nuclei. Z Zellforsch 130:440–454

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabe M (1953) Sur quelques applications de la coloration par la fuchsine-paraldehyde. Bull Microsc Appl 3:153–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Gainer H, Brownstein MJ (1978) Electrophoretic analyses of proteins transported to the posterior pituitary. J Neurochem 30:1509–1512

    Google Scholar 

  • Gainer H, Same Y, Brownstein MJ (1977) Biosynthesis and axonal transport of rat neurohypophysial proteins and peptides. J Cell Biol 73:366–381

    Google Scholar 

  • González CB, Rodriguez EM (1980) Ultrastructure and immunocytochemistry of neurons in the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei of the lizard Liolaemus cyanogaster. Evidence for the intracisternal location of the precursor of neurophysin. Cell Tiss Res 207:463–477

    Google Scholar 

  • Haddad A, Guaraldo SP, Pelletier G, Brasileiro ILG, Marchi F (1980) Glycoprotein secretion in the hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal system of the rat. Cell Tissue Res 209:399–422

    Google Scholar 

  • Hindelang-Gertner C, Stoeckel ME, Porte A, Stutinsky F (1976) Colchicine effects on neurosecretory neurons and other hypothalamic and hypophysial cells, with special reference to changes in the cytoplasmic membranes. Cell Tissue Res 170:17–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones CW, Swann RW (1974) Incorporation of tritiated sugars into rat neural lobe components. J Endocrinol 63:53–54P

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones CW, Swann RW (1975) A glycoprotein in the neurosecretory granules of the neurohypophysis. J Physiol Lond 245:45P

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz FN, Rothman JE, Linzappo VR, Blobel G, Lodish HF (1977) Membrane assembly in vitro: Synthesis, glycosylation, and asymmetric insertion of a transmembrane protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 74:3778–3782

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehle L, Tanner W (1976) The specific site of tunicamycin inhibition in the formation of dolichol-bound N-acetylglucosamine derivatives. FEBS Lett 71:167–170

    Google Scholar 

  • Loh YP, Gainer H (1979) The rôle of the carbohydrate in the stabilization, processing and packaging of the glycosylated adrenocorticotropin-endorphin common precursor in toad pituitaries. Endocrinology 105:474–487

    Google Scholar 

  • McPherson MA, Pickering BT (1978) Preparation of antisera to three individual rat neurophysins and their use for radioimmunoassay. J Endocrinol 76:461–471

    Google Scholar 

  • Murakami M (1963) Weitere Untersuchungen über die Feinstruktur der neurosekretorischen Zellen im Nucleus supraopticus von Gecko japonicus. Z Zellforsch 59:684–699

    Google Scholar 

  • Murakami M (1964) Elektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen am Nucleus praeopticus der Kröte (Bufo vulgaris formosus). Z Zellforsch 63:208–225

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Hare MJ, Nice EC (1979) Hydrophobic high-performance liquid chromatography of hormonal polypeptides and proteins on alkylsilane-bounded silica. J Chromatog 171:209–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Oksche A, Farner, DS, Serventy DL, Wolff F, Nicholls CA (1963) The hypothalamo-hypophysial neurosecretory system of the Zebra Finch, Taeniopygia castanotis. Z Zellforsch 58:846–914

    Google Scholar 

  • Palade G (1975) Intracellular aspects of protein synthesis. Science 189:347–358

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Parish DC, Rodríguez EM, Birkett SD, Pickering BT (1981) Effects of small doses of colchicine on the components of the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system of the rat. (In preparation)

  • Pickering BT (1978) The neurohypophysial neurone: a model for the study of secretion. Essays in Biochemistry 14:45–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickering BT (1981) The neurosecretory neurone in the 1980s. In: Proc 8th Int Symp Neurosecretion (In press)

  • Pickering BT, Parish DC, Rodriguez EM, González CB, Birkett S, Swann RW (1981) The movement of secretory product in the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial neurone. Verh Anat Ges Jena (In press)

  • Rodríguez EM (1969) Fixation of the central nervous system by perfusion of the cerebral ventricles with a threefold aldehyde mixture. Brain Res 15:395–412

    Google Scholar 

  • Scharrer E, Scharrer B (1954) Neurosekretion. In: Möllendorff W v, Bargmann W (eds) Handb d mikr Anat d Menschen. Springer, Berlin Göttingen Heidelberg, Vol 6/V, pp 953–1066

    Google Scholar 

  • Sterba G, Weiss J (1967) Beiträge zur Hydrencephalokrinie: I. Hypothalamische Hydrencephalokrinie der Bachforelle (Salmo trutta fario). J Hirnforsch 9:359–371

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternberger LA, Hardy PH Jr, Cuculis JJ, Meyer HG (1970) The unlabelled antibody enzyme method of immunohistochemistry. Preparation and properties of soluble antigen-antibody complex (horseradish peroxidase-anti horseradish peroxidase) and its use in identification of spirochetes. J Histochem Cytochem 18:315–333

    Google Scholar 

  • Takatsuki A, Kohno K, Tamura G (1975) Inhibition of biosynthesis of polyisoprenol sugars in chick embryo microsomes by tunicamycin. Agr Biol Chem 39:2089P

    Google Scholar 

  • Tasso F (1973) Localisation cytochimique ultrastructurale de glycoprotéines dans les granules neurosécrétoires de la posthypophyse du rat. J Microsc 18:115–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Tasso F, Rua S (1975) Etude cytochimique ultrastructurale des glycoprotéines dans le complex hypothalamo-hypophysaire du rat. Arch Anat Microsc Morphol Exp 64:247–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Zambrano D, de Robertis E (1966) The secretory cycle of supraoptic neurones in the rat. A structural-functional correlation. Z Zellforsch 73:414–431

    Google Scholar 

  • Zambrano D, de Robertis E (1967) Ultrastructural aspects of the inhibition of neurosecretion by puromycin. Z Zellforsch 76:458–470

    Google Scholar 

  • Zambrano D, de Robertis E (1968) The effect of castration upon the ultrastructure of the rat hypothalamus. I. Supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei. Z Zellforsch 86:487–498

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, University of Bristol, BS8 1TD, Bristol, England

    C. B. González, R. W. Swann &  B. T. Pickering

Authors
  1. C. B. González
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. W. Swann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. B. T. Pickering
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Supported by grants from the Medical Research Council and The Wellcome Trust

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

González, C.B., Swann, R.W. & Pickering, B.T. Effects of tunicamycin on the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system of the rat. Cell Tissue Res. 217, 199–210 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00233838

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00233838

Key words

Search

Navigation