Appearance of parvalbumin-specific immunoreactivity in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of the developing rat and gerbil brain

Abstract

Developmental changes in the distribution of parvalbumin-specific immunoreactivity in the brain, in particular in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, were followed immunohistochemically in two different species, the rat and the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) using an antibody raised against for rat parvalbumin. The gerbil is known to develop its auditory and visual capacity later than rat. In both the rat and gerbil, parvalbumin-specific immunoreactivity appeared after birth in both the cerebral cortex and hippocampus. The timing of the development of expression of parvalbumin varied among different parts of the cerebral cortex. The parietal cortex showed evidence of the earliest expression of parvalbumin whilst the occipital and temporal cortices expressed parvalbumin at a later stage of a development. This feature was common to both the rat and gerbil but occurred at a relatively later stage in the gerbil. The profile of the distribution of parvalbumin in the brain of the developing and adult gerbil was similar to that of the rat, but there were some differences. The frequency of bead-like structures on the dendrites of the parvalbumin-positive cells in the CA1 region of the hippocampus was markedly lower in the gerbil; instead, straight non-beaded fibers which ran vertically into the pyramidal layer were stained. Parvalbumin-positive fibers were also found in the cerebral cortex of the gerbil.

Parvalbumin-like immunoreactivity in the human central auditory system.

“…In earlier studies, we found high PV-specific immunoreactivity in the central auditory system of the rat and gerbil where it appeared in parallel with the functional maturation of the neurons (20,21). In this study, we examined the distribution of PV-like immunoreactivity in the human central auditory system , H2O and lyophilized.…”

Parvalbumin Immunoreactivity and Cytochrome Oxidase Activity in the Brain of the Mongolian Gerbil.

“…During the development of the gerbil, the dot-like staining appeared close to newly-immunoreactive cells, but was not observed in areas with no immunopositive cells, even if there was uniform scattering of punctate staining for synaptophysin (data not shown). The rat parvalbuminspecific antiserum used in our previous study (36) hardly recognized dot-like structures in these areas, but did stain densely condensed dot-like structures in the anterodorsal thalamic nucleus of the gerbil (36). Thus, the level of parvalbumin molecules in the dotlike structures of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus may be low.…”

The distribution of N-acetylgalactosamine in the cochlear nucleus of the gerbil revealed by lectin binding with soybean agglutinin

“…The occurrence of parvalbumin immunoreactive cells has been described for the VCN in the last embryonic day of rats (Solbach and Celio, 1991). For adult rats Aoki et al (1990) found that about 30% of the neurones in DCN contain parvalbumin.…”