Tokunaga A, Sugita S, Nagai K, Tsutsui K, Ohsawa K
Third Department of Anatomy, Okayama University Medical School, Japan.
Neurosci Res. 1997 Jan;27(1):57-63. doi: 10.1016/s0168-0102(96)01137-6.
Immunohistochemical observation was performed in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and the intergeniculate leaflet (IGL) of hereditary bilaterally microphthalmic rats without the optic nerve on both sides. In the microphthalmic rats, volume of the SCN reduced to ca. 70% of the normal and numbers of the vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-like immunoreactive (lir) neurons were significantly decreased. Although the arginine vasopressin (aVP)- and the VIP-lir neurons distributed in the dorsomedial and the ventrolateral part of the SCN, respectively, as reported in the normal one, somatostatin-lir neurons, localizing mainly in a border area between the dorsomedial and the ventrolateral region of the normal SCN, were shifted to the ventral part of the SCN in the microphthalmic rats. The ventral part of the SCN was covered with neuropeptide Y (NPY)-lir fibers in both normal and mutant rats. The IGL was hardly delineated cytologically in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the mutant rats. NPY-lir neurons were found in the dorsal part of the ventral LGN, in contrast to their even distribution in the normal IGL. These findings suggest that the IGL-SCN tract remains in the hereditary microphthalmic rats without the retinal projections.
对双侧遗传性小眼大鼠且双侧无视神经的视交叉上核（SCN）和膝间小叶（IGL）进行免疫组织化学观察。在小眼大鼠中，SCN的体积减少至正常的约70%，血管活性肠肽（VIP）样免疫反应性（lir）神经元数量显著减少。尽管如正常大鼠报道的那样，精氨酸加压素（aVP）样和VIP样lir神经元分别分布在SCN的背内侧和腹外侧部分，但在小眼大鼠中，主要定位于正常SCN背内侧和腹外侧区域边界的生长抑素样lir神经元转移到了SCN的腹侧部分。在正常和突变大鼠中，SCN的腹侧部分均被神经肽Y（NPY）样纤维覆盖。在突变大鼠的外侧膝状体核（LGN）中，IGL在细胞学上几乎无法区分。与正常IGL中NPY样神经元均匀分布相反，在腹侧LGN的背侧部分发现了NPY样神经元。这些发现表明，在没有视网膜投射的遗传性小眼大鼠中，IGL-SCN通路仍然存在。
