TACHYKINERGIC SYNAPTIC INPUTS TO NEURONS OF THE MEDIAL PREOPTIC REGION WHICH PROJECT TO THE RAT ARCUATE NUCLEUS

Anatomical relationships between tachykinin-containing terminals and neurons of the medial preoptic area that innervate the arcuate nucleus were studied using silver staining of the retrograde tracer wheat germ agglutinin-apoperoxidase-gold (WGA-ApoHRP-gold) complex injected in the arcuate nucleus and pre-embedding immunocytochemistry for neurokinin A (NKA). At the histological level, retrogradely labeled cells not stained for NKA were seen to be surrounded by numerous NKA-immunopositive punctate profiles, in particular in the dorsal part of the medial preoptic area. At the ultrastructural level, retrogradely labeled cell bodies and dendritic profiles displayed highly electron-dense silver particle accumulations over the cytoplasm. They were seen in synaptic contact with one or several NKA-immunoreactive axon terminals containing small clear vesicles and dense-cored vesicles. Such synapses were either symmetrical or asymmetrical. The occurrence of synaptic contacts between tachykinin terminals and cells innervating the arcuate nucleus in the medial preoptic region provides a morphological support for a tachykinergic regulation of preoptic afferences to the arcuate nucleus. These results suggest that tachykinins are implicated in the indirect control of neuronal activity in the arcuate nucleus notably via the preoptic area. Consequently, tachykinins are potentially able to regulate indirectly numerous neuroendocrine events involving the tuberoinfundibular system.