Special AT-rich sequence-binding protein-2 (Satb2) — Independent initiation of cholinergic sweat gland innervation in rat in vivo

Abstract

The transcription factor special AT-rich sequence-binding protein-2 (Satb2) is induced and critical for the establishment of the cholinergic phenotype in rat superior cervical ganglion cells in culture during switching from a noradrenergic to the cholinergic phenotype upon exposure to soluble differentiation factors. To obtain evidence for Satb2 determining the sympathetic cholinergic sudomotor phenotype also in vivo, we traced the postnatal expression profile of Satb2 in the rat stellate ganglion in comparison to the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT), choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), and the neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), all required for sudomotor function in adult rats.