Evidence for the occurrence of an enkephalin-like peptide in adrenaline and noradrenaline neurons of the rat medulla oblongata.

The indirect immunofluorescence technique was used to analyze the catecholaminergic neurons in the medulla oblongata of the rat for the presence of enkephalin (ENK)- and neuropeptide Y (NPY)-like immunoreactivity (LI). In colchicine pretreated animals, using a double staining technique with mouse and rabbit antibodies against ENK and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) or phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PNMT), it was demonstrated that both TH- and ENK-LI occurred in the same neurons, particularly in many neurons of the A1 noradrenaline cell group. In the transition zone to the C1 adrenaline cell group, a proportion of PNMT-positive cells also contained ENK-LI. In the rostral and mid portion of the C1 group only few TH/PNMT-positive cells were found to be ENK-positive. In the noradrenergic A2 region, a moderate number of cell bodies also contained TH- plus ENK-LI, whereas only a few of the adrenaline cells of the C2 and C3 groups showed ENK-LI. In addition, with an elution restaining technique it was possible to demonstrate that several of the cells containing TH- and ENK-LI were also positive for NPY-LI. The present findings demonstrate that a subpopulation of the catecholaminergic neurons in the medulla oblongata of the rat is ENK-positive, thereby indicating a possible co-release of the two compounds in their projection areas, for example the paraventricular nucleus and the spinal cord.