Morphological changes of gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons in the rat preoptic area across puberty

• Published in: Neural regeneration research Vol. 9; no. 13; pp. 1303 - 1312
• Main Authors: Xue, Haogang, Gai, Xiaodong, Sun, Weiqi, Li, Chun, Liu, Quan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd 01-07-2014; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Department of 0rthopedic Surgery, Afifliated Hospital of Beihua University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China%Department of Pathology, Beihua University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China%College of Public Health, Beihua University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China%Department of Cardiovascular Disease, the First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd
• Subjects: Developmental neurology; Gonadotropin releasing hormone; Lasers; Males; Morphology; Nerve proteins; Neurons; Physiological aspects; Puberty; Rodents; Software; Technical Updates; 促性腺激素释放激素; 增强型绿色荧光蛋白; 大鼠; 形态变化; 激光共聚焦显微镜; 神经元; 视前区; 青春期; United States; United States > US; China; Japan; gonadotropin-releasing hormone; transgenesis; neural regeneration; nerve regeneration; preoptic area; bipolar neurons; luteinizing hormone; neurons; pubertal period
• ISSN: 1673-5374; 1876-7958
• DOI: 10.4103/1673-5374.137578

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone （GnRH） neurons in the preoptic area may undergo morphological changes during the pubertal period when their activities are upregulated. To clarify the regulatory mechanism of puberty onset, this study aimed to investigate the morphological changes of GnRH neurons in the preoptic area of GnRH-enhanced green fluorescent protein transgenic rats. Under confocal laser microscopy, pubertal GnRH neurons exhibited an inverted Y distribution pattern. Prepubertal GnRH neurons were generally unipolar and bipolar, and were distinguished as smooth type cells with few small processes or irregular type cells with many spine-like processes in the proximal dendrites. The number of GnRH neurons in the preoptic area and spine-like processes were increased during the course of reproductive maturation. There was no significant difference between male and female rats. Immunofluorescence staining revealed synaptophysin punctae close to the distal end of GnRH neurons, indicating that some presynaptic terminals may form a synaptic linkage with these neurons.