Elsevier

Neuroscience

Volume 143, Issue 4, 28 December 2006, Pages 1031-1039
Neuroscience

Neuroanatomy
The vasopressin 1b receptor is prominent in the hippocampal area CA2 where it is unaffected by restraint stress or adrenalectomy

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2006.08.040Get rights and content

Abstract

The vasopressin 1b receptor (Avpr1b) is one of two principal receptors mediating the behavioral effects of vasopressin (Avp) in the brain. Avpr1b has recently been shown to strongly influence social forms of aggression in mice and hamsters. This receptor appears to play a role in social recognition and motivation as well as in regulating the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. Most of these studies have been performed in knockout mice, a species in which the localization of the Avpr1b has not been described, thus precluding correlations with the behaviors. We performed in situ hybridization histochemistry (ISHH) with specific probes and found especially prominent expression within the CA2 pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus, with much lower expression in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus and amygdala. Reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) confirmed expression in those as well other areas in which the ISHH was not sensitive enough to detect labeled cells (e.g. piriform cortex, septum, caudate-putamen and lower brainstem areas). Mouse Avpr1b transcript levels were not altered in the CA2 field by restraint stress or adrenalectomy. Finally, ISHH and RT-PCR showed expression of the Avpr1b gene in the rat and human hippocampi as well. We suggest that the CA2 field may form or retrieve associations (memories) between olfactory cues and social encounters.

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Animals

Adult C57BL/6J and 129/P3J strains of mice were obtained from the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME, USA). Avpr1b +/+ and −/− mice of mixed background (C57BL/6J and 129/SvJ) were created as described previously (Wersinger et al., 2002) and bred in our own colony. Six adrenalectomized and six sham-operated C57BL/6 mice were obtained from Taconic (Germantown, NY, USA). Their brains were removed 7 days after surgery. Adult Sprague–Dawley rats were also obtained from Taconic.

All animals were given

Results

The mouse, rat and human Avpr1b riboprobes were tested first on the respective pituitaries and showed good cellular labeling (Fig. 1). The brain distributions of Avpr1b transcripts were the same in C57BL/6J and 129/P3J strains or in the mixed backgrounds that the Avpr1b −/− mice were maintained on, with either the 5′ or 3′ probe. In the brain, labeling of the dorsal hippocampal CA2 pyramidal cells was the highest (Fig. 2) at 20–40 grains per 100 μm2 after a 4 month exposure. In fact, at the

Discussion

The present study revealed expression in the mouse by ISHH in a much more restricted distribution than we had anticipated, being especially prominent in the CA2 field of the hippocampus. This result contrasts with the previous results in the rat using a riboprobe (Vaccari et al., 1998). The discrepancies are not likely due to species differences as the CA2 pyramidal layer was the only region we observed labeled in the rat (Fig. 5). In fact, using a mouse probe analogous to the original rat

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Éva Mezey and Ildiko Szalayova for assistance with the in situ hybridization histochemistry. Emily Shepard provided excellent technical assistance with the autoradiography and mouse colony maintenance. We thank Dr. Mary Herman for supplying the human pituitary and for neuropathological analysis of the human sections. The critical comments of Dr. Elisabeth Murray are greatly appreciated. This research was supported in part by the NIMH Intramural Research

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    Present address: Graduate program in Molecular, Cell, Genetics and Development, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA (J. Li); Department of Psychology, The University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA (S. R. Wersinger).

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