Age differences in neurokinin A and substance P from the hypothalamus, pituitary, pineal gland, and striatum of the rat
| Autor: | Luciano Debeljuk, Beatriz Hernández Díaz, Elena Diaz, C. Fernández |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2002 |
| Předmět: |
endocrine system
medicine.medical_specialty Physiology Central nervous system Substance P Striatum Biology Biochemistry Melatonin Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience chemistry.chemical_compound Pineal gland Endocrinology medicine.anatomical_structure chemistry Hypothalamus Internal medicine Gene expression medicine Neurokinin A hormones hormone substitutes and hormone antagonists medicine.drug |
| Zdroj: | Peptides. 23:941-945 |
| ISSN: | 0196-9781 |
| Popis: | Previous data showed that aging of the central nervous system (CNS) is associated with widespread changes in tachykinin gene expression. However, there are no data about the possible role of exogenous melatonin in modulating the tachykinergic system during aging. The aim of this work was to analyze the age-dependent changes on neurokinin A (NKA) and substance P (SP) levels in hypothalamus, pituitary, pineal gland and striatum and the role of exogenous melatonin on these changes. We studied female rats at three different ages: 5-month-old (cyclic), 15-month-old (preacyclic) and 25-month-old (acyclic). Hypothalamic tachykinin levels increase when female rats reached acyclicity, this increase was blunted in acyclic-melatonin-treated rats. However, melatonin treatment in young cyclic rats resulted in significantly increased values as compared to controls. Pituitary NKA concentrations did no show age-dependent changes in control rats, however, in both, preacyclic and acyclic-melatonin-treated rats significantly increased values of pituitary NKA were found compared to controls. In the pineal gland, a marked decrease of NKA levels was observed in acyclic-control rats. Melatonin treatment did not alter this decrease. In the striatum, NKA and SP concentrations were significantly reduced in preacyclic- and acyclic-control rats compared to young cyclic rats, melatonin had no effect on striatal tachykinins. Our results indicate that melatonin may regulate tachykinin stores during aging mainly on structures of the neuroendocrine-reproductive axis. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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