Hauser K F, Osborne J G, Stiene-Martin A, Melner M H
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Kentucky School of Medicine, Lexington 40536.
Brain Res. 1990 Jul 9;522(2):347-53. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(90)91482-v.
To identify the possible cellular sites of opioid gene expression during ontogeny, proenkephalin mRNA and enkephalin peptide expression were examined, respectively, by in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry in organotypic explants of rat cerebellum and in astrocyte-enriched cultures of murine cerebral hemispheres. High levels of proenkephalin mRNA and enkephalin immunoreactivity were detected in immature cells identified as astrocytes. Double-labeling studies combining in situ hybridization and immunocytochemical localization of the astrocytic marker, glial fibrillary acidic protein, provided direct evidence that proenkephalin mRNA is expressed by astrocytes in culture. Based on previous studies that Met-enkephalin can inhibit astrocyte growth in vitro, the present results suggest that proenkephalin gene expression by astrocytes is important during central nervous system maturation.
为了确定个体发育过程中阿片样物质基因表达的可能细胞位点，分别通过原位杂交和免疫细胞化学方法，在大鼠小脑的器官型外植体以及小鼠大脑半球富含星形胶质细胞的培养物中检测前脑啡肽mRNA和脑啡肽肽的表达。在被鉴定为星形胶质细胞的未成熟细胞中检测到高水平的前脑啡肽mRNA和脑啡肽免疫反应性。将原位杂交与星形胶质细胞标志物胶质纤维酸性蛋白的免疫细胞化学定位相结合的双重标记研究提供了直接证据，表明培养中的星形胶质细胞表达前脑啡肽mRNA。基于先前的研究，即甲硫氨酸脑啡肽可在体外抑制星形胶质细胞生长，目前的结果表明星形胶质细胞的前脑啡肽基因表达在中枢神经系统成熟过程中很重要。
