Electrophysiology and distribution of oxytocin and vasopressin neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus: a study in male and female rats.

Electrophysiology and distribution of oxytocin and vasopressin neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus: a study in male and female rats. Brain Struct Funct. 2019 Dec 09;: Authors: Kania A, Sambak P, Gugula A, Szlaga A, Soltys Z, Blasiak T, Hess G, Rajfur Z, Blasiak A Abstract Magnocellular neurosecretory cells (MNCs) clustered in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and supraoptic nucleus constitute a major source of oxytocin (OXT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) peptides, and are among the best described peptidergic neurons in the brain. OXT and AVP are involved in a range of homeostatic processes, social behaviours, emotional processes, and learning. Notably, their actions can be sex-specific, and several sex differences in the anatomies of the OXT and AVP systems have been reported. Nonetheless, possible sex differences in the detailed distributions of MNCs and in their intrinsic electrical properties ex vivo have not been extensively examined. We addressed these issues utilizing immunostaining and patch-clamp ex vivo recordings. Here, we showed that Sprague-Dawley rat PVN AVP neurons are more numerous than OXT cells and that more neurons of both types are present in males. Furthermore, we identified several previously unreported differences between putative OXT and AVP MNC electrophysiology contributing to their partially unique profiles. Notably, elucidation of the highly specific action potential (AP) shape...
Source: Brain Structure and Function - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Brain Struct Funct Source Type: research