Immunoreactivity for Choline Acetyltransferase of Peripheral-Type (pChAT) in the Trigeminal Ganglion Neurons of the Non-Human Primate <i>Macaca fascicularis</i>

Abstract

Transcripts of the choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) gene reveal a number of different splice variants including ChAT of a peripheral type (pChAT). Immunohistochemical staining of the brain using an antibody against pChAT clearly revealed peripheral cholinergic neurons, but failed to detect cholinergic neurons in the central nervous system. In rodents, pChAT-immunoreactivity has been detected in cholinergic parasympathetic postganglionic and enteric ganglion neurons. In addition, pChAT has been observed in non-cholinergic neurons such as peripheral sensory neurons in the trigeminal and dorsal root ganglia. The common type of ChAT (cChAT) has been investigated in many parts of the brain and the spinal cord of non-human primates, but little information is available about the localization of pChAT in primate species. Here, we report the detection of pChAT immunoreactivity in trigeminal ganglion (TG) neurons and its co-localization with Substance P (SP) and/or calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in the cynomolgus monkey, Macaca fascicularis. Neurons positive for pChAT were observed in a rather uniform pattern in approximately half of the trigeminal neurons throughout the TG. Most pChAT-positive neurons had small or medium-sized cell bodies. Double-immunofluorescence staining showed that 85.1% of SP-positive cells and 74.0% of CGRP-positive cells exhibited pChAT immunoreactivity. Most pChAT-positive cells were part of a larger population of neurons that co-expressed SP and/or CGRP.

Expression of Choline Acetyltransferase of the Peripheral Type in the Primary Sensory Neurons of the Guinea Pig Trigeminal Ganglion

“…Similar results have been documented in many animal species including rat (Yasuhara et al, 2007and 2008), rabbit (Kolesar et al, 2006), cat (Feher et al, 1981Oyagi et al, 1989), Mongrel dogs (Esteves et al, 2009) and human (Leston, 2009;Ziyal et al, 2004;Yousry et al, 2005;Bathla and Hedge, 2013;Wu et al, 2013). In the present work, the trigeminal ganglionic pseudounipolar neurons possesses round or oval shaped neurons with variable size from small to large cells .This results was in agreement with (Hassanali et al,1999;Kobash et al, 2005;Kolesar et al, 2006;Yasuhara et al, 2007 and2008;Koga et al, 2013). These pseudounipolar neurons have basophilic cytoplasm and rounded nuclei with prominent nucleoli in most of them and were surrounded by satellite cells in an accord with what is mentioned by (Moses, 1967;Krastev et al, 2007;Ray et al, 2010;Wu et al, 2013).…”

“…Colocalization of these two peptides with pChAT has never been studied before in guinea pig TG and so the possible function of pChAT in TG neurons need Alexandria Journal of Veterinary Sciences 2014, 42: 49-58 ISSN 1110-2047, www.alexjvs.com DOI: 10.5455/ajvs.164120 to be elucidated. Moreover pChATimmunoreactivity has been studied well and characterized in detail in rat trigeminal ganglia (Yasuhara et al, 2004;2008) and nonhuman primate (Koga et al, 2013) indicating that pChAT play roles in nociception. However, such positive neurons were not identified in guinea pig TG before.…”

Appearance of cholinergic myenteric neurons during enteric nervous system development: comparison of different ChAT fluorescent mouse reporter lines

“…Although pChAT immunostained a large percentage of the guinea pig ENS, cChAT immunoreactivity was also present. 9 Antisera made against placental ChAT that recognizes both pChAT and cChAT are commercially available (EMD Millipore, Temecula, CA, USA) 10 and have been used to localize ChAT in enteric neurons. 1,3,11 These issues have recently been overcome by the generation of mouse fluorescent reporter lines that detect ChAT expression.…”

Distinct Localization of Peripheral and Central Types of Choline Acetyltransferase in the Rat Cochlea

“…Interestingly, the possible existence of pChAT-positive neurons was also reported in various sensory ganglia such as the trigeminal ganglia [27, 48, 49, 51], nodosa ganglia [33, 34], and dorsal root ganglia [3]. …”

“…Immunohistochemistry using pChAT antiserum has subsequently confirmed the presence of cholinergic systems in the peripheral nervous system [3, 6, 9, 10, 19, 27, 32–34, 37, 47–51]. Interestingly, the possible existence of pChAT-positive neurons was also reported in various sensory ganglia such as the trigeminal ganglia [27, 48, 49, 51], nodosa ganglia [33, 34], and dorsal root ganglia [3].…”