Expression of the vasopressin and oxytocin genes in rats occurs in mutually exclusive sets of hypothalamic neurons

FEBS Letters

Mohr, Evita¹  Bahnsen, Ulrich¹  Richter, Dietmar¹  Kiessling, Christiane¹ 

[1] Institut für Zellbiochemie und klinische Neurobiologie, Universitäts-Krankenhaus Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 2000 Hamburg 20, FRG

关键词: In situ hybridization;    Double labeling;    Oxytocin gene;    Promoter region;    Consensus sequence;    Vasopressin gene regulation;    Osmotic stress;   

DOI  :  10.1016/0014-5793(88)81003-2

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

The genes for the hypothalamic hormones vasopressin and oxytocin are located in close proximity to each other within the rat genome. They are separated by only approx. 11 kbp of DNA sequence and oriented in such a way that their transcription occurs on opposite DNA strands. Although the two genes are structurally very similar including common potential regulatory elements in their putative promotor regions, they are expressed in discrete populations of magnocellular neurons of the hypothalamus. In rats placed under osmotic stress, the vasopressin gene is unregulated; concomitantly transcription of the oxytocin gene is also stimulated. To address the question of whether this coordinated rise in oxytocin-encoding mRNA is the result of switching on oxytocin gene transcription in vasopressinergic neurons, in situ hybridization with double labelled cRNA probes was carried out. Biotinylated and [α-³⁵S]CTP labelled antisense cRNA probes specific for either vasopressin or oxytocin mRNA were constructed and hybridized to hypothalamic sections from salt-loaded rats. The results demonstrate that upregulation of oxytocin gene transcription is restricted solely to oxytocinergic cells; no oxytocin gene transcripts can be detected in vasopressinergic neurons.

【 授权许可】

Unknown