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Immunocytochemical localization of a galanin-like peptidergic system in the brain and pituitary of some teleost fish

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Summary

Immunostaining of brain and pituitary sections of teleost fishes (eels, salmonidae, cyprinidae, gourami, sculpin, mullet) with anti porcine galanin (GAL) revealed the presence of immunoreactive (ir) perikarya and a rich network of fibers. Ir-perikarya were located rostrodorsally to the recessus preopticus, and in the posterior tuberal hypothalamus. Ir-fibers were abundant in basal telencephalon and around diencephalic ventricular recesses but never contacted their lumen. Furthermore, they were observed in basal hypothalamus, brainstem and ventral medulla. Ir-fibers passed along corticotropic (ACTH), gonadotropic cells and somatotropes (GH cells) in eel and trout pars distalis, but rarely ended in caudal neurohypophysis. In goldsfish pituitary ir-fibers occurred in neural digitations and among different cell types which however did not contain a GAL-like peptide. The relation GAL fibers/GH cells appeared more evident in species with a high growth rate. The other species showed a similar distribution of brain GAL. In eels and trout, ir-perikarya were not observed in areas containing somatostatin, GH- and ACTH-releasing factor, and ACTH-like perikarya, suggesting that GAL did not coexist with these peptides. The widespread distribution of a GAL-like peptide in teleost brain suggests that it could play a role of neurotransmitter and/or neuromodulator and regulate the secretion of adenohypophysial hormone(s).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Physiologie, Institut Océanographique, 195 rue Saint-Jacques, F-75005, Paris, France

    M. Olivereau

  2. Laboratoire de Psychobiologie Environmentale, Université Paris V, Clichy, France

    J. M. Olivereau

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  1. M. Olivereau
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  2. J. M. Olivereau
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Abbreviations used in the text: GAL galanin. In the brain: CSF cerebrospinal fluid; NLT nucleus lateralis tuberis; NPO nucleus preopticus; NPP nucleus preopticus periventricularis; NPVa nucleus periventricularis anterior; NRP nucleus recessus posterioris; RI recessus infundibularis; RL recessus lateralis; RPO recessus preopticus. In the pituitary: ACTH corticotropin; CRF corticotropin-releasing factor; GH growth hormone; GRF growth hormone-releasing factor; GTH gonadotropin; MSH melanotropin; NH neurohypophysis; NIL: neurointermediate lobe; PPD proximal pars distalis; RPD proximal pars distalis

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Olivereau, M., Olivereau, J.M. Immunocytochemical localization of a galanin-like peptidergic system in the brain and pituitary of some teleost fish. Histochemistry 96, 343–354 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00271356

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00271356

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