Distribution of two forms of somatostatin and peptides belonging to the pancreatic polypeptide family in tissues of larval lampreys, Petromyzon marinus L.: an immunohistochemical study.

Immunohistochemistry on tissues of larval lampreys, Petromyzon marinus L., was used to determine the distribution of invariant somatostatin-14 (SST-14) and lamprey somatostatin-34 (SST-34) in the brain while antisera against porcine peptide tyrosine tyrosine (PYY), human neuropeptide Y (NPY), anglerfish peptide YG (aPY), salmon glucagon-like peptide (GLP), SST-14, and SST-34 were used in studies of the pancreas and anterior intestine. In the brain, SST-14 is the major form of somatostatin. SST-14- and SST-34-immunoreactive nerve fibers are distributed throughout the telencephalon, diencephalon, and mesencephalon. In the latter region SST-14 immunoreactivity is concentrated in nerve tracts in the nucleus interpeduncularis. Nerve cells within the olfactory bulbs are immunoreactive only to anti-SST-34. Cells immunostained with anti-SST-14 were localized within the ependymal and subependymal layers of the pars ventralis hypothalami and the subependymal layers of the pars dorsalis thalami. SST-14-immunoreactive perikarya are also distributed within the tegmentum mesencephali. Nerve fibers and cells immunoreactive to anti-SST-34 are detected in the pars ventralis hypothalami but these cells do not colocalize SST-14. Pancreatic islets, distributed within the epithelium and in the submucosal connective tissue at the esophageal-intestinal junction, are only immunoreactive to anti-insulin. The antisera revealed three distinct cell types in the intestinal epithelium: type 1 colocalizes aPY, NPY, and PYY; type 2 colocalizes SST-14 and SST-34; and type 3 demonstrates immunoreactivity only to anti-SST-34. Immunoreactivity to anti-GLP is absent.