Transient expression of somatostatin messenger RNA and peptide in the hypoglossal nucleus of the neonatal rat.

The postnatal developmental expression of somatostatin mRNA and peptide in the rat hypoglossal nucleus was analyzed using immunocytochemical and in situ hybridization techniques. Both the neuropeptide and its cognate mRNA were found to be transiently present within a subpopulation of hypoglossal motoneurons during the neonatal period. At the day of birth, a large population of perikarya situated in caudal, ventral regions of the hypoglossal nucleus expressed somatostatin. By postnatal day 7, the number of hypoglossal somata which expressed somatostatin had diminished considerably, and by 2 weeks postnatal, only few such cell bodies were found. By 3-4 weeks postnatal, somatostatin peptide- and mRNA-containing hypoglossal motoneurons were rarely observed, and in the adult, they were never detected, despite the use of colchicine. A double-labeling co-localization technique was used to demonstrate that somatostatin, when present perinatally, always coexisted with calcitonin gene-related peptide in hypoglossal motoneurons. The latter peptide, in contrast to somatostatin, was expressed in large numbers of somata throughout the entire hypoglossal nucleus and persisted within the motoneurons throughout development into adulthood. These results demonstrate that somatostatin is transiently expressed in motoneurons of the caudal, ventral tier of the hypoglossal nucleus in the neonatal rat. The developmental disappearance of somatostatin is most likely not due to cell death; hypoglossal somata continue to express calcitonin gene-related peptide, with which somatostatin coexisted perinatally, a high levels throughout development. Thus, it appears that the regulation of somatostatin expression in hypoglossal neurons occurs at the level of gene transcription or mRNA stability/degradation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cellular and molecular mechanisms of chemical synaptic transmission.

During the last decade much progress has been made in understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which nerve cells communicate with each other and nonneural (e.g., muscle) target tissue. This review is intended to provide the reader with an account of this work. We begin with an historical overview of research on cell-to-cell communication and then discuss recent developments that, in some instances, have led to dramatic changes in the concept of synaptic transmission. For instance, the finding that single neurons often contain multiple messengers (i.e., neurotransmitters) invalidated the long-held theory (i.e., Dale's Law) that individual neurons contain and release one and only one type of neurotransmitter. Moreover, the last decade witnessed the inclusion of an entire group of compounds, the neuropeptides, as messenger molecules. Enormous progress has also been made in elucidating postsynaptic receptor complexes and biochemical intermediaries involved in synaptic transmission. Here the development of recombinant DNA technology has made it possible to clone and determine the molecular structure for a number of receptors. This information has been used to gain insight into how these receptors function either as a ligand-gated channel or as a G protein-linked ligand recognition molecule. Perhaps the most progress made during this era was in understanding the molecular linkage of G protein-linked receptors to intramembranous and cytoplasmic macromolecules involved in signal amplification and transduction. We conclude with a brief discussion of how synaptic transmission leads to immediate alterations in the electrical activity and, in some cases, to a change in phenotype by altering gene expression. These alterations in cellular behavior are believed to be mediated by phosphoproteins, the final biochemical product of signal transduction.