Center for Neuroendocrine Studies and Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
J Comp Neurol. 2011 Aug 15;519(12):2434-74. doi: 10.1002/cne.22635.
The neuropeptide vasopressin (AVP) has been implicated in the regulation of numerous physiological and behavioral processes. Although mice have become an important model for studying this regulation, there is no comprehensive description of AVP distribution in the mouse brain and spinal cord. With C57BL/6 mice, we used immunohistochemistry to corroborate the location of AVP-containing cells and to define the location of AVP-containing fibers throughout the mouse central nervous system. We describe AVP-immunoreactive (-ir) fibers in midbrain, hindbrain, and spinal cord areas, which have not previously been reported in mice, including innervation of the ventral tegmental area, dorsal and median raphe, lateral and medial parabrachial, solitary, ventrolateral periaqueductal gray, and interfascicular nuclei. We also provide a detailed description of AVP-ir innervation in heterogenous regions such as the amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and ventral forebrain. In general, our results suggest that, compared with other species, the mouse has a particularly robust and widespread distribution of AVP-ir fibers, which, as in other species, originates from a number of different cell groups in the telencephalon and diencephalon. Our data also highlight the robust nature of AVP innervation in specific regulatory nuclei, such as the ventral tegmental area and dorsal raphe nucleus among others, that are implicated in the regulation of many behaviors.
神经肽加压素（AVP）参与了许多生理和行为过程的调节。尽管小鼠已成为研究这种调节的重要模型，但目前还没有关于小鼠脑和脊髓中 AVP 分布的全面描述。我们使用 C57BL/6 小鼠，通过免疫组织化学方法来证实含有 AVP 的细胞的位置，并确定整个小鼠中枢神经系统中含有 AVP 的纤维的位置。我们描述了中脑、后脑和脊髓区域中的 AVP-免疫反应性（ir）纤维，这些纤维以前在小鼠中没有被报道过，包括腹侧被盖区、背侧和中缝核、外侧和内侧臂旁核、孤束核、腹外侧导水管周围灰质和纤维间核的神经支配。我们还提供了 AVP-ir 纤维在杏仁核、终纹床核和腹侧前脑等异质区域的详细描述。总的来说，我们的结果表明，与其他物种相比，小鼠具有特别丰富和广泛的 AVP-ir 纤维分布，与其他物种一样，这些纤维起源于端脑和间脑的许多不同细胞群。我们的数据还强调了 AVP 神经支配在特定调节核中的稳健性，例如腹侧被盖区和背侧缝核等，这些核在许多行为的调节中起重要作用。
