Application of the nonradioactive in situ hybridization for the localization of acetylcholinesterase mRNA in the central nervous system of the rat; comparison to the radioactive technique

Kreft, Samo; Zajc-Kreft, Katarina; Živin, Marko; Sket, D.; Grubič, Zoran

doi:10.1007/bf02346392

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The values from each treatment group were averaged to obtain the final mean ± SEM. Nonradioactive and radioactive in situ hybridisation has been shown to give similar results in previous studies (25).…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 83%

Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase as a Substrate for the Evolution of Pseudosexual Behaviour in a Parthenogenetic Whiptail Lizard

O’Connell

Matthews

Crews

2011

Journal of Neuroendocrinology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The evolution of neuroendocrine mechanisms governing sex-typical behaviour is poorly understood. An outstanding animal model is the whiptail lizard (Cnemidophorus) as both the ancestral and descendent species still exist. The ancestral little striped whiptail, C. inornatus, consists of males and females, which exhibit sex-specific mating behaviours. The descendent desert grassland whiptail, C. uniparens, consists only of females that alternately exhibit both female-like and male-like pseudosexual behaviour. Castrated male C. inornatus will mount a conspecific in response to exogenous androgen, but some are also sensitive to progesterone. This polymorphism in progesterone sensitivity in the ancestral species may have been involved in evolution of progesterone-mediated male-typical behaviour in the descendant unisexual lizards. We tested if progesterone activates the typically androgenic signalling pathway by investigating hormonal regulation of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) using in situ hybridization and NADPH diaphorase histochemistry, a stain for nNOS protein. NADPH diaphorase is widely distributed throughout the brain of both species, but only in the periventricular nucleus of the preoptic area (pvPOA) are there differences between mounting and non-mounting individuals. The number of cells expressing nNOS mRNA and NADPH diaphorase is higher in the pvPOA of individuals that mount in response to progesterone or androgen. Further, the nNOS promoter has both androgen and progesterone response elements, and NADPH diaphorase colocalizes with the progesterone receptor in the pvPOA. These data suggest that a polymorphism in progesterone sensitivity in the sexual ancestor reflects a differential regulation of nNOS and may account for the male-typical behaviour in unisexual whiptail lizards.

show abstract

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 83%