Colocalization of Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid Immunoreactivity and Acetylcholinesterase Activity in Nerve Fibers of the Mouse Adrenal Gland.

Abstract

ABSTRACT.The present immunohistochemical and enzyme histochemical study showed gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) immunoreactivity and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in the mouse adrenal gland. Weak GABA immunoreactivity was seen in clusters of chromaffin cells showing noradrenaline fluorescence. This finding suggests that both GABA and noradrenaline may be released from the granules of noradrenaline cells by adequate stimuli. GABA-immunoreactive varicose nerve fibers densely contacted adrenaline cells and large ganglion cells, but they were sparse in the periphery of clusters of noradrenaline cells. AChE activity was strong in a few large ganglion cells and weak in chromaffin cells showing noradrenaline fluorescence, and was found in numerous nerve bundles and fibers of the medulla. AChE-active nerve fibers more densely contacted noradrenaline cells than adrenaline cells. By using double labeling technique, numerous GABA-immunoreactive nerve fibers in the medulla were reactive for AChE in the same sections. These results suggest that both GABA and acetylcholine may be colocalized in the intra-adrenal nerve fibers and may have some secretory effects on the chromaffin cells.-KEY WORDS: acetylcholinesterase, adrenal gland, colocalization, gamma-aminobutyric acid.

Olivocochlear innervation in the mouse: Immunocytochemical maps, crossed versus uncrossed contributions, and transmitter colocalization

“…For example, Kosaka et al (1988) reported the coexistence of GAD and choline acetyltransferase in some cell types of the retina, cerebral cortex, basal forebrain, and spinal cord. Iwasa et al (1999) showed that GABA immunoreactivity is colocalized with AChE in nerve fibers of the mouse adrenal gland, and N'Guyen and Grzywacz (2000) found GABA and GAD immunoreactivities in the cholinergic amacrine cells of the adult turtle retina.…”

Expression and localization of pChAT as a novel method to study cholinergic innervation of rat adrenal gland

“…Moreover, no AChE-positive cells were found in either the capsule or the cortex and AChE-positive nerve fibers were rarely found in the capsule. In parallel, Watanabe et al (1990) and Iwasa et al (1991) reported thick and thin bundles of AChE-positive nerve fibers that ran directly through the cortex into the medulla of the mouse adrenal gland. Moreover, groups of AChE-positive chromaffin cells and intramedullary ganglion cells were reported also in the rat (Tomlinson and Coupland, 1990;Dagerlind et al, 1994) and bovine (De Diego, 2010) adrenal medulla.…”

“…Moreover, groups of AChE-positive chromaffin cells and intramedullary ganglion cells were reported also in the rat (Tomlinson and Coupland, 1990;Dagerlind et al, 1994) and bovine (De Diego, 2010) adrenal medulla. The presence of AChE in the ganglionic cells and some chromaffin cells may be related to the hydrolysis of a large amount of ACh used in controlling the chromaffin secretory activity (Iwasa et al, 1991).…”

“…It stimulates and mutually facilitates the secretion of catecholamine by generating various second messengers (Malhotra et al, 1989;Tomlinson and Coupland, 1990;Iwasa et al, 1991;Tischler et al, 1999;Rosol et al, 2001;Hamelink et al, 2002). Four possible marker proteins have been used to reveal cholinergic nerves.…”

“…We noticed that previous studies have reported the expression of AChE (Allen et al, 1958), ChAT (Henion and Landis, 1990;Holgert et al, 1994;Kato et al, 2014), and VAChT (Arvidsson et al, 1997) in the adult adrenal gland. Moreover, the distribution of AChE in the developing adrenal gland of rat and mouse (Holgert et al, 1994;Iwasa et al, 1991) has been documented. However, details regarding the localization of the cholinergic markers; pChAT, cChAT, VAChT, and AChE, has never been studied in comparison and is a matter of debate.…”