sfn2001

Truitt WA, Stanton LA, Coolen LM (2001) Targeted lesions of Substance P receptor cells in L3-4 lumbar spinal cord severely impair male ejaculatory behavior. Neuroscience 2001 Abstracts 958.18. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Summary: Previously we demonstrated the existence of a spinothalamic pathway in the male rat where neural activation is specifically induced by ejaculation. This pathway consists of the parvocellular subparafascicular thalamic nucleus (SPFp) and the neurons projecting to the SPFp that are located in the lumbar spinal cord, specifically in laminae 10 and 7 of segments L3-L4. This neuron population coexpresses galanin (Gal) and substance P receptors (SPR). To test the hypothesis that these cells relay sensory information related to ejaculation, these neurons were lesioned by targeting the SPR with the neurotoxin SSP-saporin, a high affinity analogue of substance P conjugated to the ribosome inhibitor saporin. SSP-saporin (4 ng/µl) or an equal concentration of unconjugated saporin was injected bilaterally into L3-L4 region in either sexually experienced or naïve male Sprague Dawley rats (n=5 each). Sexual behavior was tested weekly, starting ten days following surgery. Following the sixth behavioral test, rats were sacrificed and spinal cord tissue was immunostained for GAL, SPR, or NeuN to assess specific and nonspecific tissue damage. In rats injected with unconjugated saporin, the Gal/SPR cell population was intact and sexual behavior was not altered. In contrast, in rats receiving SSP-saporin, Gal/SPR cell population was significantly decreased (77%) or absent. Moreover, SSP-saporin lesions severely disrupted ejaculatory behavior. Interestingly, display of mounts and intromissions remained intact. These results suggest that Gal/SPR cells in laminae 10 and 7 of L3-4 lumbar spinal cord may be essential for male ejaculatory behavior.

Related Products: SSP-SAP (Cat. #IT-11)

Dinh TT, Sanders NM, Pedrow C, Ritter S (2001) Selective immunotoxin lesion of spinally projecting norepineprhine and epinephrine (NE/E) neurons impairs the glucagon response to 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2DG). Neuroscience 2001 Abstracts 947.1. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Summary: Previous work has shown that the targeted immunotoxin, anti-dopamine ß-hydroxylase conjugated to saporin (DSAP), can be used to selectively destroy subpopulations of hindbrain NE/E neurons projecting to or through a particular DSAP injection site. Using this approach, we have shown that NE/E neurons projecting to the hypothalamus are required for feeding and glucocorticoid responses to 2DG-induced glucoprivation and those projecting spinally are required for the adrenal medullary response. In this study, we injected DSAP or unconjugated saporin (SAP) control solution into the spinal cord at T2-T4 to investigate the role of the spinally projecting NE/E neurons in glucagon secretion induced by 2DG (250 mg/kg). Controls injected spinally with unconjugated saporin (SAP) had a glucagon response that peaked at 308% of pre-2DG levels, while DSAP-injected rats had a significantly blunted response to 2DG, peaking at 197% of pre-2DG levels. 2DG-induced hyperglycemia also was impaired in the DSAP rats, but not in the SAP rats. Both SAP and DSAP rats had normal feeding and glucocorticoid responses to 2DG. Results suggest that spinally-projecting NE/E neurons participate in the neural control of glucagon secretion under conditions of glucose deficit. In combination with other findings, these results indicate that hindbrain NE/E neurons contribute to four major glucoregulatory responses (increased feeding, and increased secretion of glucagon, glucocorticoids and adrenal medullary epinephrine) through their projections to hypothalamic or spinal cord effector sites.

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Fraley GS, Dinh TT, Ritter S (2001) Immunotoxin lesion of catecholaminergic neurons innervating the medial hypothalamus elevates basal expression of and attenuates glucoprivaation-induced increases in agouti gene related protein (AGRP) mRNA. Neuroscience 2001 Abstracts 947.2. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Summary: Catecholaminergic (CA) innervation of medial hypothalamic structures is necessary for glucoprivation-induced feeding, glucocorticoid secretion and Fos expression in the paraventricular (PVH) and arcuate nuclei of the hypothalamus. In this experiment, we tested the hypothesis that the 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG)-induced an increase in AGRP mRNA expression (reported recently by Sergeyev et al., 2000) also requires NE/E neurons. CA neurons innervating the medial hypothalamus were lesioned using the toxin, saporin, targeted for selective entry into NE/E neurons by conjugation with a monoclonal antibody against dopamine beta hydroxylase. This toxin (DSAP), or unconjugated saporin (SAP) control solution, was bilaterally microinjected into the PVH. DSAP rats with confirmed 2DG-induced feeding deficits (DSAP 1.7 +/- 0.29 g; SAP 5.1 +/- 0.31 g; p < 0.05) and controls were injected with 2DG (250 mg/kg), or saline and maintained for 2 hrs without food. Hypothalami were harvested and subjected to Northern blot analysis of AGRP mRNA. Blot analysis revealed that 2DG increased mRNA expression in SAP controls (2DG: 1.0 +/- 0.05 RDU; saline: 0.7 +/- 0.02, p< .05), but not in DSAP lesioned rats (2DG: 1.1 +/- 0.04; saline: 1.0 +/- 0.03). In addition, basal AGRP mRNA expression was significantly elevated in DSAP-lesioned rats compared to SAP controls (p < .05). These data suggest that basal AGRP gene expression is controlled by hindbrain CA neurons and that increased AGRP gene expression induced by glucoprivation also requires these neurons.

Related Products: Anti-DBH-SAP (Cat. #IT-03)

Ritter S, Dinh TT, Sanders NM, Pedrow C (2001) Selective immunotoxin lesion of hypothalamically-projecting norepinephrine/epinephrine (NE/E) neurons impairs the glucocorticoid response to glucoprivation. Neuroscience 2001 Abstracts 947.3. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Summary: Decreased glucose utilization triggers behavioral and neuroendocrine responses that increase blood glucose concentrations and delivery of glucose to the brain. These include stimulation of food intake and increased secretion of glucagon, adrenal E and glucocorticoids. In previous work utilizing the targeted immunotoxin, DSAP (saporin conjugated to a monoclonal antibody against dopamine β-hydroxylase), we demonstrated that hindbrain NE/E neurons that project to the hypothalamus are necessary for glucoprivic feeding and those that project spinally are necessary for glucoprivic control of adrenal medullary secretion. In the present study, we injected DSAP or control solution into the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVH) to investigate the role of NE/E neurons in glucoprivic control of glucocorticoid secretion. DSAP lesions significantly attenuated the magnitude and duration of the glucocorticoid (cortisol) response to 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG)-induced glucoprivation, but did not reduce the glucagon response. After 2DG (250 mg/kg), cortisol levels peaked at only 184% of pre-2DG levels in DSAP rats, compared to 440% in controls. Quantitative analysis revealed that DSAP did not destroy CRF-immunoreactive cell bodies in the PVH or terminals in the arcuate/median eminence, but did reduce dopamine β-hydroxylase immunoreactivity in hypothalamus and in hindbrain NE/E cell groups known to innervate the hypothalamus, including those that innervate CRF neurons in the PVH. Results indicate a critical role for hindbrain NE/E neurons in eliciting multiple controls of glucose homeostasis.

Related Products: Anti-DBH-SAP (Cat. #IT-03)

Bugarith K, Ritter S, Dinh T (2001) Hyperphagia and obesity results from the injection of the immunotoxin neuropeptide Y (NPY)-saporin (NPY-sap) into the paraventricular hypothalamus (PVH) of rats. Neuroscience 2001 Abstracts 948.2. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Summary: NPY is a peptide implicated in the control of numerous physiological processes. A variety of G-protein coupled receptors, Y1, Y2, Y4, and Y5, mediate the actions of NPY. Recently a new immunotoxin, NPY-SAP, has been developed that is potentially of great importance for the study of NPY function. NPY-SAP is a conjugate of the peptide NPY and saporin, a plant toxin that inactivates ribosomes. The proposed mechanism of toxicity involves immunotoxin binding NPY receptors and destruction of neurons containing these receptors. In this study we injected different doses of NPY-sap or unconjugated saporin (SAP) into the PVH to test the effects of this new toxin. We found that at low doses, there was no effect of NPY-SAP on cytoarchitecture or immunoreactivity of select peptides in the PVH. There was also no difference in body weight between the groups. At high doses, there was histologically-detectable damage in the hypothalamus of NPY-SAP animals. We also found a major difference in body weight between the NPY-SAP rats and SAP controls. Ten weeks after the injections, the NPY-SAP rats (654.3g ± 39.04g) were much heavier than the SAP rats (410.6g ± 15.29g). Further, daytime (0800 – 1700H) food intake was about twice as much in NPY-SAP (9.53g ± 0.996g) as in SAP (5.74g ± 0.476g) rats, with no difference in overnight (1700 – 0800H) feeding. Work is ongoing to determine the specificity of the lesion and the mechanism of action of NPY-SAP.

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Kohls MD, Majer KA, Russell BJ, Han Q, Blakely RD, Lappi DA (2001) A monoclonal antibody to an extracellular domain of the serotonin transporter: Characterization and targeting properties. Neuroscience 2001 Abstracts 814.9. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA. PMID: 0

Summary: Using a peptide corresponding to a sequence from an extracellular domain of the rat serotonin re-uptake transporter (SERT), we have created a monoclonal antibody that recognizes the molecule on the cell surface. In FACS analysis, the antibody is able to recognize SERT-expressing human platelets and rat basophilic RBL-2H3 cells. Recognition is inhibited by the peptide immunogen. In western blotting of SERT-transfected cells, the antibody recognizes an approximately 95 kDa band corresponding to SERT, and shows no such recognition in the parent cell line. We have created an immunotoxin with this antibody by conjugation to the ribosome-inactivating protein saporin. This immunotoxin is 50-fold more cytotoxic than saporin to RBL-2H3 cells, according to ED50. The ED50 for the immunotoxin is 10.6 nM, whereas the ED50 for non-conjugated saporin is 477 nM. At 100 nM, the immunotoxin eliminates 72% of cells, whereas saporin alone has no significant difference on cells from control (addition of vehicle). These data demonstrate that antibody binding to SERT results in internalization, a situation we have also seen with the dopamine transporter (R.G. Wiley, M.B. Harrison, A.I. Levey and D.A. Lappi, submitted). Antibodies for the targeting and delivery of molecules to the interior of cells can be created through the use of peptide immunogens derived from the sequences of the extracellular domains.

Related Products: Antibody to Serotonin Transporter (SERT, Cat. #AB-N09)

Lee KY, Leos R, Borowski TB, de Lacalle S (2001) Bcl-2 improves survival of lesioned cholinergic neurons. Neuroscience 2001 Abstracts 803.6. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Summary: Alzheimer’s disease is associated with the progressive cell death of cholinergic neurons in the central nervous system (CNS). A current challenge is to develop therapeutic approaches that could prevent atrophy and loss of CNS neurons, and promote regeneration of their processes. The purpose of our study is to determine the therapeutic potential of the antiapoptotic gene B-cell lymphoma 2 (bcl-2) on the cholinergic system of the basal forebrain (BF). Retrograde degeneration in the BF of 3-month-old rats was induced by unilateral injection of the immunotoxin 192 IgG-saporin into the entorhinal cortex. Fifteen minutes later, an injection of 5 µg of the pa22bgala4bcl-2 plasmid was placed into the BF. Similar procedures were followed for BF injections of a control plasmid or vehicle alone. We found that a single injection of bcl-2 plasmid into the BF of the lesioned side increased survival of cholinergic neurons ~50%, as compared to vehicle controls. In addition, cell survival was close to 100% of intact side with bcl-2 injections, compared to a 50% cell loss in animals injected with a control DNA. Our results indicate that an injection of the bcl-2 gene into the BF prevents loss of cholinergic neurons that have been injured by IgG-saporin. Mechanisms by which bcl-2 may protect cholinergic neurons could include retrograde transport of the plasmid to the nucleus and subsequent neuroprotective effects of increased levels of bcl-2 protein. Our results, in conjunction with other studies, suggest that neurodegeneration might be amenable to gene therapy.

Related Products: 192-IgG-SAP (Cat. #IT-01)

Bose P, Wang DC, Parmer R, Wiley RG, Thompson FJ (2001) Monoamine modulation of spinal reflex excitability of the lower limb in the rat: Intrathecal infusion (i.t.) of anti-DBH saporin toxin – time course for behavior. Neuroscience 2001 Abstracts 771.3. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Summary: Progressive neurophysiological changes in the excitability of ankle extensor stretch reflexes were observed following T8 spinal cord contusion injury. Our previous study indicated that nonspecific monoamine depletion (reserpine, i.p.)contributed to pathologic hyperreflexia. To test a more specific hypothesis, a longitudinal study was performed to evaluate the time course of changes in reflex excitability after i.t. injection of 250ng of anti-DBH saporin toxin (that specifically lesions descending spinal noradrenergic neurons) into the lumbar spinal cord of normal rats. Measures of ankle torque and time-locked EMGs were used to scale stretch reflex excitability across a broad range of stretch velocities (49-612°/sec) before and at weekly intervals following i.t. injection of toxin (n=12) or vehicle (n=6) using instrumentation and protocol previously reported. An elevated pattern of ankle toque was noted in all velocities tested on day 1 and week 1 of toxin treated animals compared with vehicle controls. By week-2, and for the remaining 5 weeks of testing, significant elevation of the ankle torque was only observed in the faster velocities. Significant increases in hindlimb axis and base of support were also observed from footprint analysis. These findings indicate that selective lesion of spinal noradrenergic fibers produced some of the specific changes in the reflex excitability that were observed following midthoracic spinal contusion injury.

Related Products: Anti-DBH-SAP (Cat. #IT-03)

Wang DC, Bose P, Parmer R, Wiley RG, Thompson FJ (2001) Monoamine modulation of spinal reflex excitability of the lower limb in the rat: Intrathecal (i.t.) infusion of anti-DBH saporin toxin – time course for neurophysiology. Neuroscience 2001 Abstracts 771.5. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Summary: Progressive neurophysiological changes in the excitability of ankle extensor stretch reflex were identified following T8 spinal cord contusion injury (Thompson et. al., 1992). Previous study suggested that nonspecific monoamine depletion may be a significant contributor to the pathologic hyperreflexia associated with chronic spinal cord injury (Thompson et. al., 1999). To test a more specific hypothesis, a study was performed to evaluate the time course of changes in reflex excitability after i.t. injection of 250ng of anti-DBH saporin toxin to specifically lesion descending spinal noradrenergic neurons into the lumbar spinal cord of normal rats. Measures of H-reflex excitability were obtained prior to and at weekly intervals following toxin injection until a physiological plateau was observed. Significant decreases in rate-depression of H-reflexes were observed by the second week after toxin infusion and were maintained throughout the five weeks of testing. These studies indicate that selective lesioning of noradrenergic fibers produced specific changes in reflex excitability previously observed following midthoracic spinal cord contusion injury in the rat. The results of this study further implicate neurophysiological changes associated with monoamine loss as a contributing factor leading to hyperreflexia derived from chronic spinal cord injury. Correlated behavioral changes are reported in the companion poster, Bose et.al.

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Kolasa K, Harrell LE, Parsons DS, Conger K (2001) α-1 adrenergic antagonist effect on cholinergic muscarinic receptors. Neuroscience 2001 Abstracts 549.17. Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, CA.

Summary: Cholinergic denervation of cortex and hippocampus in rat causes an unusual neuronal rearrangement, in which peripheral sympathetic fibers, originating from superior cervical ganglia, grow into the cholinergically denervated areas. This process has been termed cortical (CSI) and hippocampal sympathetic ingrowth (HSI). A similar process may occur in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Recent studies suggest that the balance between central adrenergic and cholinergic systems may be important for normal learning and memory, while the alterations of these systems may play a critical role in cognitive deficits of AD. To better understand this situation specific cholinotoxin, 192-IgG-saporin, was intraventricularly (ivc) injected to produce a selective loss of cholinergic cells in rat basal forebrain nuclei, cholinergically denervating hippocampal (HCD) and cortical areas (CCD). This effect was confirmed by significant decrease in choline acetyltransferase activity in all groups and brain structures.192-IgG-saporin injection was followed by a treatment with α1-adrenergic antagonist prazosin to determine the effect on hippocampal and cortical muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChR) and norepinephrine (NE) level. Prazosin (0.5 & 2 mg/kg ip) produced decreases in NE levels of HSI and CSI and induced no significant increase in mAChR affinity in HSI and CSI groups in dorsal hippocampus,anterior and entorhinal cortex. Injected at the dose of 2 mg/kg it increased mAChR density in CSI of both cortical areas. The present results began to define the interaction between adrenergic and cholinergic systems, as α1 antagonist treatment affects mAChR,a potential therapeutic target in AD.

Related Products: 192-IgG-SAP (Cat. #IT-01)