Immunochemical Characterization of Dopamine β‐Hydroxylase

The aim of the present investigation was to study the distribution in the rat pineal gland of dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH) which is essential for the formation of the melatonin synthesis-regulating substance noradrenaline (NA). In 5- and 8-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats DBH-like immunoreactivity (DBH-LI) was studied using polyclonal antibodies against DBH and the indirect immunofluorescent technique. DBH-LI was mainly located in pineal nerve fibres coming from the superior cervical ganglia. The intensity of the staining reaction was considerably lower than in non-pineal noradrenergic nerve fibres and the impression was gained by comparison of DBH-LI specimens with glyoxylic acid-treated sections that only approximately one third of the NA-containing intrapineal nerve fibres exhibited DBH-LI. There were no detectable differences in DBH-LI with regard to time of day and age of the animals. These results suggest that NA synthesis may be relatively low in intrapineal sympathetic nerve fibers and that the NA required for the regulation of pineal melatonin synthesis may, to a large degree, stem from the circulation. In addition to nerve fibres, some rare intrapineal cell bodies exhibited DBH-LI; in 5-month-old rats their numbers did not reveal significant differences between day and night. These cells do not appear to represent pinealocytes. They may be a special population of noradrenergic nerve cells perhaps belonging to an as yet unknown intrapineal regulatory system.

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Distribution of dopamine-beta-hydroxylase—like immunoreactivity in the rat pineal organ

Schröder

Vollrath

1985

Histochemistry

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Membrane dopamine β-hydroxylase: a precursor for the soluble enzyme in the bovine adrenal medulla

Helle¹,

Reed²,

Pihl³

et al. 1984

International Journal of Biochemistry

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Endocytosis of surface bound dopamine β-hydroxylase and plasma membrane following catecholamine secretion by bovine adrenal chromaffin cells

Lotshaw

Edwards

1986

Neurochemistry International

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Immunochemical Characterization of Dopamine β‐Hydroxylase

Cited by 4 publications

References 92 publications

Distribution of dopamine-beta-hydroxylase—like immunoreactivity in the rat pineal organ

Distribution of dopamine-beta-hydroxylase—like immunoreactivity in the rat pineal organ

Membrane dopamine β-hydroxylase: a precursor for the soluble enzyme in the bovine adrenal medulla

Endocytosis of surface bound dopamine β-hydroxylase and plasma membrane following catecholamine secretion by bovine adrenal chromaffin cells

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