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SummaryNeuroglobin and cytoglobin are recently discovered respiratory proteins of vertebrates with yet ill-defined physiological functions. Neuroglobin is widely expressed in neurons, but not glia, in the vertebrate central and peripheral nervous systems. Other major expression sites are the retina and endocrine tissues. This distribution is indicative of a function of neuroglobin in metabolically most active, oxygen-consuming cell types, but does not yet allow to safely distinguish between different cellular roles, such as oxygen homeostasis, scavenging of reactive oxygen species or sustaining energy metabolism. Cytoglobin is predominantly expressed in connective tissue fibroblasts and related cell types in the body organs. Its main function may therefore be related to the specific metabolic properties of these cells, namely the production of massive amounts of extracellular matrix. Cytoglobin may hypothetically be involved in the oxygen-consuming maturation of collagen proteins. Cytoglobin is also expressed in distinct cell types of brain and retina. Its distribution strikingly differs from neuroglobin, suggesting an independent, yet unknown function. IUBMB Life, 56: 671-679, 2004

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There is evidence that the trigeminal (Gasserian) ganglia innervate the mammalian pineal gland and serve in its regulation in addition to the sympathetic and cholinergic as well as further influences. By means of immunohistochemical methods, previous studies demonstrated fibers containing calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP‐LI) or substance P (SP) in the superficial pineal of various mammalian species. In addition, SP and the related tachykinin, neurokinin A, were detected by radioimmunoassay and HPLC, respectively, in the rat and human pineal gland. In the present study, retrograde neuronal tracing upon injection of a tracer substance into the superfical pineal gland of rats was used in combination with immunohistochemistry to show that trigeminal ganglionic neurons innervate the gland, and that a considerable amount of these neurons are also CGRP‐ or SP‐immunoreactive. These results reveal that afferent neuropeptidergic entering the supericial pineal gland originate from the trigeminal ganglia. The present paper reviews the evidence for a CGRP‐ and SP‐ergic innervation of the mammalian pineal gland and discusses the possible role of these neuropeptides with regard to pineal function. Microsc. Res. Tech. 46:305–309, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.