Zigmond R E, Hyatt-Sachs H, Baldwin C, Qu X M, Sun Y, McKeon T W, Schreiber R C, Vaidyanathan U
Department of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Feb 15;89(4):1507-11. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.4.1507.
Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)-like immunoreactivity is present at low levels in the superior cervical ganglion of the adult rat, where immunostained neural processes, but only an occasional immunostained cell body, are found. However, when ganglia are maintained for 24 or 48 hr in organ culture, their content of VIP-like immunoreactivity increases 6- or 31-fold, respectively. When examined at 24 hr, the increase in VIP-like immunoreactivity is totally blocked by an inhibitor of RNA or protein synthesis. Many neuronal cell bodies and processes with immunoreactivity for VIP and the related peptide histidine isoleucine amide (PHI) are seen in cultured ganglia. In addition, VIP/PHI mRNA is abundant in cultured ganglia but only barely detectable in ganglia prior to culture. Under the same culture conditions, neuropeptide Y-like immunoreactivity increases to a small extent, and tyrosine hydroxylase activity and total ganglion protein remain unchanged. These results support the idea that adult sympathetic neurons exhibit plasticity in neuropeptide expression and that this plasticity, in the case of VIP, depends on changes in gene expression.
血管活性肠肽（VIP）样免疫反应性在成年大鼠颈上神经节中含量较低，在该神经节中可发现免疫染色的神经突起，但仅偶尔有免疫染色的细胞体。然而，当神经节在器官培养中维持24或48小时时，其VIP样免疫反应性含量分别增加6倍或31倍。在24小时时检查发现，VIP样免疫反应性的增加完全被RNA或蛋白质合成抑制剂阻断。在培养的神经节中可见许多对VIP及相关肽组氨酸异亮氨酸酰胺（PHI）有免疫反应性的神经元细胞体和突起。此外，VIP/PHI mRNA在培养的神经节中丰富，但在培养前的神经节中几乎检测不到。在相同的培养条件下，神经肽Y样免疫反应性有小幅度增加，酪氨酸羟化酶活性和神经节总蛋白保持不变。这些结果支持这样的观点，即成年交感神经元在神经肽表达方面表现出可塑性，并且就VIP而言，这种可塑性取决于基因表达的变化。
