Differential expression and gonadal hormone regulation of histone H1(0) in the developing and adult rat brain.

The cellular distribution of histone H1(0) has been examined immunohistochemically in the rat brain. H1(0) accumulates in neurons and glial cells during postnatal development. In neurons, immunoreactivity increases progressively from about postnatal day 10, and reaches a distribution pattern similar to that of adult rats by postnatal day 20. Immunoreactivity in glial cells shows a prominent increase from postnatal day 20 to adult age. The accumulation of H1(0) during postnatal development appears to be correlated with terminal differentiation and maturation. Although immunoreactive neurons are widely distributed in all areas of the central nervous system, many neurons do not express immunoreactivity. For instance in the cerebellum, Purkinje neurons are negative. In females, the number of immunoreactive neurons in the arcuate area of the hypothalamus increases during postnatal development. In contrast, the percentage of immunoreactive neurons in males is low at all ages studied. The expression of H1(0) in the ventromedial part of the arcuate is reversibly and negatively regulated during the estrous cycle by the level of plasma estradiol. Ovariectomy increases the number of immunoreactive neurons while the restoration of the physiological levels of estradiol results in the opposite effect. Early postnatal androgenization of females suppresses the increment in the number of immunoreactive neurons in both the dorsolateral and the ventromedial parts of the arcuate during postnatal development, thus leading to permanently decreased levels of H1(0) immunoreactivity in postpuberal females.