Department of Medical Sciences, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03722, South Korea.
Department of Physiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, 03722, South Korea.
Mol Brain. 2024 Jun 13;17(1):37. doi: 10.1186/s13041-024-01109-2.
The potential role of the ghrelin receptor, also known as the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), within the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in regulating drug addiction and feeding has been documented; however, the pattern of its expression in this site remains elusive. In this study, we characterized the expression patterns of GHSR1a and 1b, two subtypes of GHSRs, within the NAcc of the rat brain by immunohistochemistry. We visually detected GHSR signals, for the first time, at the protein level in the NAcc in which they were mostly expressed in neurons including both medium spiny neurons (MSNs) and non-MSNs. Furthermore, GHSR1a was found expressed as localized near the cellular membrane or some in the cytoplasm, whereas GHSR1b expressed solely throughout the large cytoplasmic area. The existence and subcellular expression pattern of GHSRs in the NAcc identified in this study will contribute to improving our understanding about the role of GHSR-mediated neurosignaling in feeding and drug addiction.
生长激素促分泌素受体（GHSR）又被称为 ghrelin 受体，其在伏隔核（NAcc）中调节药物成瘾和摄食的潜在作用已有相关记载；然而，其在该部位的表达模式仍难以捉摸。在这项研究中，我们通过免疫组织化学技术，对大鼠脑 NAcc 中的 GHSR1a 和 GHSR1b 这两种 GHSR 亚型的表达模式进行了研究。我们首次在蛋白质水平上在 NAcc 中检测到了 GHSR 信号，其在神经元中表达较多，包括中间多棘神经元（MSNs）和非 MSNs。此外，GHSR1a 被发现定位于细胞膜附近或细胞质中，而 GHSR1b 仅表达于较大的细胞质区域。本研究中鉴定的 NAcc 中 GHSR 的存在及其亚细胞表达模式，将有助于提高我们对 GHSR 介导的神经信号在摄食和药物成瘾中的作用的理解。
