Immunocytochemical and in vitro autoradiographic evidence for a direct somatostatinergic modulation of the enkephalinergic hypothalamoseptal tract of the guinea-pig

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to determine whether the enkephalinergic hypothalamoseptal tract originating in the magnocellular dorsal nucleus in the guinea-pig brain is under the influence of somatostatin. In the first step, double immunocytochemical labeling of enkephalinergic cells and somatostatinergic fibers was combined at the light and electron microscopic levels in the magnocellular dorsal nucleus. As a second step, an in vitro radioautography was used to determine whether somatostatin receptors are present in the same area. A close relationship between somatostatin nerve endings and enkephalin perikarya was observed at both the light and electron microscopic levels. Contacts were more numerous in the ventral part of the magnocellular dorsal nucleus. Whenever synaptic images were clearly observable, they appeared symmetrical. In the same area, a moderate concentration of G-protein-coupled somatostatin binding sites was also visualized. These results suggest that somatostatin has a regulator role on the enkephalinergic hypothalamoseptal tract, directly at the level of the magnocellular dorsal nucleus.