The hypothalamic neuropeptide FF network is impaired in hypertensive patients

Brain and Behavior

Valeri D. Goncharuk³  Ruud M. Buijs¹  Jack H. Jhamandas² 

[1] Instituto de Investigaciones Biomedicas, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico;Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada;Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam ZO, The Netherlands

关键词: Essential hypertension;    hypothalamic cardiovascular regulation;    quantitative immunohistochemistry;   

DOI  :  10.1002/brb3.229

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Background

The human hypothalamus contains the neuropeptide FF (NPFF) neurochemical network. Animal experiments demonstrated that NPFF is implicated in the central cardiovascular regulation. We therefore studied expression of this peptide in the hypothalamus of individuals who suffered from essential hypertension (n = 8) and died suddenly due to acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and compared to that of healthy individuals (controls) (n = 6) who died abruptly due to mechanical trauma of the chest.

Methods

The frozen right part of the hypothalamus was cut coronally into serial sections of 20 μm thickness, and each tenth section was stained immunohistochemically using antibody against NPFF. The central section through each hypothalamic nucleus was characterized by the highest intensity of NPFF immunostaining and thus was chosen for quantitative densitometry.

Results

In hypertensive patients, the area occupied by NPFF immunostained neuronal elements in the central sections through the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCh), paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (Pa), bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), perinuclear zone (PNZ) of the supraoptic nucleus (SON), dorso- (DMH), ventromedial (VMH) nuclei, and perifornical nucleus (PeF) was dramatically decreased compared to controls, ranging about six times less in the VMH to 15 times less in the central part of the BST (BSTC). The NPFF innervation of both nonstained neuronal profiles and microvasculature was extremely poor in hypertensive patients compared to control.

Conclusions

The decreased NPFF expression in the hypothalamus of hypertensive patients might be a cause of impairment of its interaction with other neurochemical systems, and thereby might be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 The Authors. Brain and Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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