Gu Ya-Nan, Kim Hang-Gu, Jeon Chang-Jin
Department of Biology, School of Life Sciences, BK21 Plus KNU Creative BioResearch Group, College of Natural Sciences, and Brain Science and Engineering Institute, Kyungpook National University , Daegu, 41566, South Korea.
Acta Histochem Cytochem. 2015 Aug 27;48(4):125-33. doi: 10.1267/ahc.14066. Epub 2015 Aug 20.
Microchiroptera (microbats) is a suborder of bats thought to have degenerated vision. However, many recent studies have shown that they have visual ability. In this study, we labeled neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS)-the synthesizing enzyme of the gaseous non-synaptic neurotransmitter nitric oxide-and co-localized it with calbindin D28K (CB), calretinin (CR), and parvalbumin (PV) in the visual cortex of the greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, a species of microbats). nNOS-immunoreactive (IR) neurons were found in all layers of the visual cortex. Intensely labeled neurons were most common in layer IV, and weakly labeled neurons were most common in layer VI. Majority of the nNOS-IR neurons were round- or oval-type neurons; no pyramidal-type neurons were found. None of these neurons co-localized with CB, CR, or PV. However, the synthesis of nitric oxide in the bat visual cortex by nNOS does not depend on CB, CR, or PV.
小蝙蝠亚目(小型蝙蝠)是一类被认为视觉已经退化的蝙蝠亚目。然而,最近的许多研究表明它们具有视觉能力。在本研究中,我们标记了神经元型一氧化氮合酶(nNOS)——气态非突触神经递质一氧化氮的合成酶——并使其与大马蹄蝠(Rhinolophus ferrumequinum,一种小型蝙蝠)视觉皮层中的钙结合蛋白D28K(CB)、钙视网膜蛋白(CR)和小白蛋白(PV)共定位。在视觉皮层的所有层中均发现了nNOS免疫反应性(IR)神经元。标记强烈的神经元在IV层最为常见,而标记较弱的神经元在VI层最为常见。大多数nNOS-IR神经元为圆形或椭圆形神经元;未发现锥体型神经元。这些神经元均不与CB、CR或PV共定位。然而,nNOS在蝙蝠视觉皮层中合成一氧化氮并不依赖于CB、CR或PV。