Ontogeny of the induction of tyrosine hydroxylase by reserpine in the superior cervical ganglion, nucleus locus coeruleus and adrenal gland

Tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine beta-hydroxylase inductions evoked by reserpine in the superior cervical ganglion of developing eu- and hypothyroid rats

This study was designed to determine the effect of neonatally-produced hypothyroidism on reserpine-elicited tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and dopamine beta-hydroxylase (D beta H) induction in the superior cervical ganglion (SCG) in rats. Some rats were rendered hypothyroid from birth by daily treatment with propylthiouracil (PTU). Some hypothyroid rats received replacement therapy with triiodothyronine (T3). Some rats received PTU for 20 days, beginning at 90 days of age. Some rats were not treated and served as controls. TH and D beta H activities were assayed at 30, 50 and 110 days of age. Basal TH activity in the SCG for rats made hypothyroid as neonates was significantly lower than for controls at all ages tested; basal D beta H activity for these rats was lower than for controls at 30 and 50 days of age, but by 110 days was not different from that for controls. Basal TH activity for rats made hypothyroid as adults was intermediate between that for controls and rats made hypothyroid from infancy. Injecting control rats with reserpine produces a robust TH induction in the SCG at each age tested, and a strong D beta H induction at 50 and 110 days of age. Reserpine-evoked TH and D beta H inductions in rats made hypothyroid as adults were not different from those seen in controls. In contrast, rats made hypothyroid from infancy showed virtually no evidence of a reserpine-provoked TH or D beta H induction at any age tested. TH and D beta H inductions for hypothyroid rats given T3 replacement were completely normal.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Ontogeny of tyrosine hydroxylase concentration in locus coeruleus of newborn rats: long-term effects of RU24722

The ontogenetic variations of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) have been studied in locus coeruleus of developing rats. During the first 2 weeks after birth, a large increase in TH content (6.04-23.99 TH units) in the noradrenergic structure was observed, followed by a period of progressive increase of the protein concentration (42 TH units in adult rats). The expression of TH was studied in the same ontogenetic period after treatment by RU24722 (20 mg/kg, i.p.). The long-term increase in TH concentration produced by the drug was found to follow ontogenetic variations. It becomes significant around the middle of the second week after birth and gradually increases until the 24th day of postnatal development, indicating a maturation of the mechanisms involved in the inducing effect.

Influence of hypothyroidism on the ontogenic development of tyrosine hydroxylase induction in the adrenal glands of the rat

The ontogenic development of the transsynaptic induction of adrenal tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), evoked by reserpine and nicotine was studied in control and hypothyroid young rats, aged 3-52 days. The enzymatic induction was measured as an increase in the enzyme activity, since this increase was shown to be impaired either by an inhibitor of RNA synthesis or by a ganglionic blocker. In the control animals, TH induction elicited by reserpine increases between 3 and 32 days of age. In the hypothyroid rats, the enzymatic induction is impaired up to 32 days; at 52 days the induction is similar in both groups of animals. When nicotine is used as a stimulating agent, hypothyroidism still impairs the enzymatic induction at 5 and 21 days, indicating that at least one of the mechanisms inhibited by hypothyroidism is localized in the adrenal chromaffin cells. The present results, taken together with previous findings dealing with adrenal epinephrine secretion, show that the thyroid hormones play a crucial role in the responses of the adrenal medulla to a stimulation in the developing rat, while they have no effect in the adult.

Development of transsynaptic regulation of adrenal enkephalin

Transsynaptic activity differentially regulates biosynthesis of sympathoadrenal catecholamines and co-localized opiate peptides in the rat. We determined whether similar mechanisms were operative during development. Adrenal Leu-enkephalin (LEU), was first detected at E16.5, then increased 5-fold during maturation from birth to adulthood while adrenal weight increased 10-fold. Since medullary cells do not divide after the first postnatal week, this represents a specific maturational increase in LEU content per chromaffin cell. In adult medullae, decreasing transsynaptic activity through adrenal denervation or explantation results in a 30-50-fold increase in LEU. In contrast, LEU levels in denervated or explanted medullae from neonatal rats (less than or equal to 10 days) do not. Prolonged denervation (day 5-21) prevented even the normal maturational increase in LEU. However, depolarizing medullae with KCl lowered LEU levels at all ages tested with an increased magnitude of effect after 10 days postnatal age. Specific deficits in signal-transduction mechanisms or immaturity of opiate biosynthetic pathways may account for these observations. Thus, during development, adrenal opiate peptides are not under transsynaptic control yet require presynaptic terminals to mature normally. Therefore, like catecholamines, co-localized adrenal opiate peptides require presynaptic regulatory signals to achieve normal development and function.

Adrenal medullary responses to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia in the young rat. Influence of thyroid hormones

The adrenal medulla of normal, hypothyroid and hyperthyroid young rats was stimulated by insulin-induced hypoglycaemia. In normal rats, insulin-induced adrenal epinephrine secretion increases during the first 10 days of post-natal life. Hypothyroidism retards the development of adrenal response; hyperthyroidism facilitates the development of this response. At 14 days, when insulin-induced adrenal epinephrine depletion is the same for all groups, the recovery of adrenal catecholamines stores after depletion is linear and takes less than 48 h. Recovery rate is slightly slower for hyperthyroid rats than for either hypothyroid or control rats at 14 days. Following epinephrine depletion, adrenal tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH) activities are increased for a few days in the control rats, corresponding to a transsynaptic induction. Hypothyroidism impairs TH induction and completely suppresses DBH induction; hyperthyroidism impairs TH induction, but has no effect on DBH induction. These data show that the various processes related to CA synthesis, in the adrenal medulla of the developing rat, are controlled in different ways by the thyroid hormones.

Tyrosine hydroxylase induction in the young rat: control by thyroid hormones

At 14 days of age, hypothyroid and normal rats are rendered hypoglycaemic by insulin injection and the subsequent induction in adrenal tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) is studied. Hypothyroidism impairs both the intensity and the time-course of adrenal TH induction.

Reserpine induction of tyrosine hydroxylase in paraplegia

Reserpine induction of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) activity reflects the biochemical adaptability of sympathetic neurons. Midthoracic spinal cord transection in adult animals precludes TH induction in the sixth lumbar (L6) ganglion, a ganglion innervated by spinal segments caudal to the lesion. However, in animals receiving lesions as neonates, an elevation in L6 ganglion TH activity occurred after reserpine. This retained biochemical adaptability indicates an increased recuperative capacity of developing neurons.

Development and aging of noradrenergic cell bodies and axon terminals in the chicken

Tyrosine hydroxylase activity was measured in the region of locus coeruleus, cerebellum, cervical spinal cord, lumbar sympathetic ganglia, and iris throughout most of the life span of the chicken (8 days of incubation to 5 years) to compare developmental trends in tyrosine hydroxylase activity in noradrenergic cell bodies and in axon terminals in both the central and peripheral nervous system. Fluorescence histochemistry and retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase were used to characterize further the coeruleo-cerebellar projections. Tyrosine hydroxylase activity was detected in the cerebellum as early as 8 days of incubation, which is the earliest stage so far reported. The greatest increase in total tyrosine hydroxylase activity in the region of the locus coeruleus and cerebellum occurred during the embryonic period. There was a more pronounced increase in the cerebellum than in the locus coeruleus region. This is in contrast to the cervical spinal cord where tyrosine hydroxylase activity increased at approximately the same rate during the embryonic and post-hatching periods. Moreover, the cerebellum and cervical spinal cord, two locus coeruleus target sites, displayed different trends in tyrosine hydroxylase activity throughout development and aging. In both structures examined in the peripheral nervous system, the greatest increase in total tyrosine hydroxylase activity occurred during the post-hatching period, with a greater rise in the cell bodies of the lumbar sympathetic ganglia than in the noradrenergic terminals of the iris. In both the central and peripheral nervous system, total tyrosine hydroxylase activity continued to increase in noradrenergic terminals long after hatching reaching the highest levels at 7 months when the chicken is considered fully mature. During aging, 16 months to 5 years, there was a greater decrease in total tyrosine hydroxylase activity in the terminals of noradrenergic neurons than in the cell bodies in both the central and peripheral nervous system, a phenomenon that was more marked in the peripheral nervous system than in the brain.

Denervation-induced decreases in enzyme activity of rat superior cervical ganglia differ in vivo and in vitro

The decrease in tyrosine hydroxylase activity following denervation in vivo and subsequent culture in vitro was examined to determine the role of the preganglionic nerve in this decrease. Ganglia denervated in vivo prior to culture showed a greater decrease than ganglia maintained for the same total period in vitro, and hence denervated for the same time, suggesting factors in addition to the loss of the preganglionic nerve are involved in vivo.

L-Glutamate decarboxylase

Much progress has been made in recent years regarding enzymological aspects of mammalian brain GAD, such as its purification and characterization, but some uncertainty still remains concerning its molecular weight and forms, and its subunit structure. The availability of antibodies to this enzyme has allowed immunocytochemical studies which have provided important information on the intrinsic organization of GABA-ergic neurones in the CNS, particularly in the cerebellum and nigrostriatal pathway. With the increased understanding of the enzymology of GAD and the distribution of central GABA-ergic neurones, it is becoming feasible to study the regulatory biochemistry of GAD in terms of control and adaptive mechanisms at the cellular level. In our own laboratory, as well as in others, initial approaches have already begun. Obviously, cellular regulation of this phenotypic enzyme is an important issue for the understanding of GABA-ergic neurones and their functions.

The effect of a single dose of reserpine administered prior to incubation on the development of tyrosine hydroxylase activity in chick sympathetic ganglia

A single dose of reserpine administered into the yolk sac of chicken eggs prior to incubation produces two distinct periods of significant increase in tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) activity over controls. The first period is 21 days of incubation (55%) and the second is between day 14 and 30 after hatching (a.h.) (69%). Cholineacetyltransferase (ChAc) and dopadecarboxylase (DDC) are not modified in the two periods of increased TH activity. Reserpine had no effect on cholinergic parasympathetic synapses and neurons in the ciliary ganglion, as judged by ChAc activity. When reserpine was acutely administered in three different posthatching periods only the injection at the latest period (days 26 and 27) caused a significant (38%) increase in TH activity at day 30. Postsynaptic nicotinic receptors were blocked selectively by injecting chlorisondamine in the chick starting at hatching for one week. The administration of chlorisondamine almost completely abolished the reserpine induced increase of TH activity at day 15 a.h. The present results support the view that the development of enzyme activities specifically related to neurotransmitter biosynthesis in chick autonomic ganglia is regulated not only by transsynaptic influences but also by regulatory inputs originating in the periphery.

Catecholamine enzymes in the degenerative neurological disease idiopathic orthostatic hypotension

Discrete brain areas and sympathetic ganglia obtained at autopsy from patients with idiopathic orthostatic hypotension were assayed for tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine beta-hydroxylase. Dopamine beta-hydroxylase activity was decreased 7.5-fold in sympathetic ganglia, while tyrosine hydroxylase activity was reduced more than 50-fold in the pontine nucleus locus coeruleus. These observations indicate that noradrenergic neurons of both brain and ganglion are affected in idiopathic orthostatic hypotension, but suggest that the central and peripheral biochemical deficits differ.