Distribution of components of basal lamina and dystrophin-dystroglycan complex in the rat pineal gland, differences from the rat pineal gland: differences from the brain tissue and between the subdivisions of the gland

The pineal gland is an evagination of the brain tissue, a circumventricular neuroendocrine organ. Our immunohistochemical study investigates basal lamina components (laminin, agrin, perlecan, fibronectin), their receptor, the dystrophin-dystroglycan complex (ß-dystroglycan, dystrophin utrophin), aquaporins (-4,-9) and cellular markers (S100, neurofilament, GFAP, glutamine synthetase) in the adult rat corpus pineale. The aim was to compare the immunohistochemical features of the cerebral and pineal vessels and their environment, and to compare their features in the distal and proximal subdivisions of the so-called ’superficial pineal gland’. In contrast to the cerebral vessels, pineal vessels proved to be immunonegative to α1-dystrobrevin, but immunoreactive to laminin. An inner, dense, and an outer, loose layer of laminin as two basal laminae were present. The gap between them contained agrin and perlecan. Basal lamina components enmeshed the pinealocytes, too. Components of dystrophin-dystroglycan complex were also distributed along the vessels. Dystrophin, utrophin and agrin gave a ’patchy’ distribution rather than a continuous one. The vessels were interconnected by wing-like structures, composed of basal laminacomponents: a delicate network forming nests for cells. Cells immunostained with glutamine synthetase, S100- protein or neurofilament protein contacted the vessels, as well as GFAP- or aquaporin-immunostained astrocytes. Within the body a smaller, proximal, GFAP-and aquaporin-containing subdivision, and a larger, distal, GFAP-and aquaporin-free subdivision could be distinguished. The vascular localization of agrin and utrophin, as well as dystrophin, delineated vessels unequally, preferring the proximal or distal end of the body, respectively

Alterations of the perivascular dystrophin-dystroglycan complex following brain lesions. An immunohistochemical study in rats

Dystroglycan is a laminin receptor, which with dystrophins and other components forms the dystrophin-dystroglycan complex. It has an important role in the formation of gliovascular connections, cerebral vascularisation and blood-brain barrier. Dystroglycan consists of two sub-units, α and ß. Previous studies demonstrated that the ß-dystroglycan immunoreactivity of cerebral vessels temporarily disappeared in the area adjacent to the lesion, whereas the vascular laminin which is not immunoreactive in the intact brain became detectable. The present study extends these investigations over other components of the complex: utrophin, α1-syntrophin and α1-dystrobrevin. The experiments were performed on adult rats. The lesions were stab wounds or cryogenic lesions in deep ketamine-xylasine narcosis. Following survival periods 2 to 30 days, the animals were perfused and floating brain sections were processed for fluorescent immunohistochemistry. The α1-dystrobrevin, like ß-dystroglycan, vanished temporarily around the lesion. The immunoreactivity of utrophin changed in a similar way to that of laminin. In intact brains they were confined to the entering segments of the vessels and to the circumventricular organs. Following lesions their immunoreactivity manifested in the vessels around the lesions. However, utrophin followed laminin with a delay: their peaks were about POD (postoperative days) 21 and 7, respectively. Only immunoreactivity of α1-syntrophin appeared in the reactive astrocytes, peaking at POD 14. Double-labeling proved its co-localization with GFAP. Cryogenic lesions had similar immunohistochemical effects, but provided more suitable samples for Western blot analysis, which proved the altered levels of α1-dystrobrevin and α1-syntrophin. The phenomena may help to monitor the post-lesion vascular processes and the alterations of the gliovascular connections