Onuoha Phillips G N, Ritchie A, Nicholls D P
Department of Cardiology/Medicine, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, UK.
Cardiology. 1998 Oct;90(2):95-100. doi: 10.1159/000006826.
Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is a novel neuropeptide, predicted on the basis of structural analysis of the rat calcitonin gene. It is a neurotransmitter which has been suggested to take part in sensory transmission. In this study, we have examined the distribution of this peptide, alpha-atrial natriuretic peptide immunoreactivity (irANP) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) within different regions of the rat heart. Attempts were also made to compare the distributions of these peptides in the regions examined, through different methods of immunocytochemistry and further comparing these results with those obtained through radioimmunoassay. The distributions of the peptides in the atria were similar to results obtained with radioimmunoassay, but there were no myocytes containing irANP in the ventricles with immunocytochemistry as opposed to radioimmunoassay. While the staining obtained for irANP in the atrium was more intense in the right, CGRP and NPY nerve fibres were two to three times more abundant in the left atrium. The high local concentration of a vasoconstrictor peptide in the region of coronary vessels may suggest that it is involved in the control of vascular smooth muscle tone. The method of choice with the immunocytochemical studies was that of the susa wax technique for irANP. Caution should therefore be observed when interpreting results based only on a single staining technique.
降钙素基因相关肽（CGRP）是一种新型神经肽，是在对大鼠降钙素基因进行结构分析的基础上预测出来的。它是一种神经递质，有人认为它参与感觉传递。在本研究中，我们检测了这种肽、α-心房利钠肽免疫反应性（irANP）和神经肽Y（NPY）在大鼠心脏不同区域的分布。我们还尝试通过不同的免疫细胞化学方法比较这些肽在所检测区域的分布，并将这些结果与通过放射免疫测定获得的结果进一步比较。这些肽在心房中的分布与放射免疫测定的结果相似，但与放射免疫测定相反，免疫细胞化学检测发现心室中没有含irANP的心肌细胞。虽然心房中irANP的染色在右侧更强烈，但CGRP和NPY神经纤维在左心房中的数量是右心房的两到三倍。冠状动脉区域血管收缩肽的高局部浓度可能表明它参与了血管平滑肌张力的控制。免疫细胞化学研究的首选方法是用于irANP的苏萨蜡技术。因此，仅基于单一染色技术解释结果时应谨慎。
