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Evolutionary Origins of Transventricular Transmission of Hypothalamic Hormones and Neuromodulatory Substances

  • Morphological Basics for Evolution of Functions
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Abstract

Liquor-contacting cells, immunoreactive to oxytocin, vasopressin, monoamines (dopamine, serotonin) and calbindin, were found in hypothalamic neurosecretory nuclei of turtles (Testudo horsfieldi and Emys orbicularis). They are considered as sources of the nonsynaptic transventricular pathway responsible for the delivery of a broad variety of hormones and neuromodulators to different hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic brain structures. This phylogenetically ancient tract is inherent to all vertebrates, including humans, and contributes to the organization of different forms of social behavior.

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Abbreviations

CB:

calbindin

Ep:

ependymal layer

ir:

immunoreactive

MRI:

n. medialis re-cessus infundibuli

NPP:

n. preopticus periven-tricularis

Ox:

oxytocin

pEp:

periependymal layer

PVN:

n. paraventricularis

Se:

serotonin

sEp:

subependymal layer

sEpe:

external sEp

sEpi:

internal sEp

TH:

tyrosine-hydroxylase

trHh:

tractus hypothalamo-hypophisalis

V:

third ventricle

Vp:

vasopressin

5-HT:

5-hy-droxytryptamine.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to Prof. V.V. Grinevich (Heidelberg University, Germany) for his helpful consultation and providing antibodies, as well as to Dr. D.V. Amakhin (Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, RAS, Laboratory of Molecular Mechanisms of Neuron-Neuron Interactions) for his aid in photographing the preparations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

    M. G. Belekhova, N. B. Kenigfest, E. V. Chernigovskaya & N. M. Chmykhova

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  1. M. G. Belekhova
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  2. N. B. Kenigfest
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  3. E. V. Chernigovskaya
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  4. N. M. Chmykhova
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Correspondence to M. G. Belekhova.

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Russian Text © The Author(s), 2019, published in Zhurnal Evolyutsionnoi Biokhimii i Fiziologii, 2019, Vol. 55, No. 2, pp. 130–137.

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Belekhova, M.G., Kenigfest, N.B., Chernigovskaya, E.V. et al. Evolutionary Origins of Transventricular Transmission of Hypothalamic Hormones and Neuromodulatory Substances. J Evol Biochem Phys 55, 140–147 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0022093019020078

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