Variable proopiomelanocortin expression in tanycytes of the adult rat hypothalamus and pituitary stalk.

ABSTRACT: It is generally believed that proopiomelanocortin (POMC) is expressed exclusively by neurons in the adult rodent brain. Unbeknownst to most researchers, however, Pomc in situ hybridization studies in the rat show specific labeling in the ventral wall of the hypothalamic third ventricle, which is formed by specialized ependymal cells, called tanycytes. Here we characterized this non-neuronal POMC expression in detail using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical techniques, and report two unique characteristics. First, POMC mRNA and precursor protein expression in non-neuronal cells varies to a great degree as to the extent and abundance of expression. In brains with low-level expression, POMC mRNA and protein was largely confined to a population of tanycytes within the infundibular s

SUBMITTER: Wittmann G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5177469 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature