LUTEINIZING-HORMONE-RELEASING HORMONE NEURONS WHICH ARE RETROGRADELY LABELED AFTER PERIPHERAL FLUOROGOLD ADMINISTRATION IN THE MALE FERRET

This study identified luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH)-producing neurons which have access to fenestrated capillaries in prepubertal male European ferrets. Fluoro-Gold was injected intraperitoneally to retrogradely label neurons with terminals outside the blood-brain barrier. LHRH neurons were identified by immunofluorescence using a secondary antibody tagged with tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate. Cell bodies which demonstrated both tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate and Fluoro-Gold fluorescence were defined as LHRH-producing neurons with axon.terminals in regions containing fenestrated capillaries. The total number and neuroanatomical distribution of immunopositive (LHRH+) cells concurred with previous studies in the ferret in which cell bodies were diffusely distributed from rostral forebrain through caudal diencephalon, with approximately 70% of the LHRH+ cell bodies located in retrochiasmatic hypothalamus. in the present study, an average of 59.8% of all LHRH+ neuronal perikarya also contained Fluoro-Gold. The majority of Fluoro-Gold filled LHRH+ neurons demonstrated only faint to moderate amounts of Fluoro-Gold when compared to other Fluoro-Gold filled neurosecretory neurons. This limited uptake of Fluoro-Gold may be due to a relative inactivity of LHRH neurons projecting outside the blood-brain barrier. Double-labeled LHRH+ neurons were dispersed throughout the entire population of LHRH+ cell bodies and no apparent nuclear groups of double-labeled neurons were found. This observation suggests that the LHRH+ neurons responsible for neurosecretion into the median eminence coexist with the LHRH+ neurons responsible for intracerebral neurotransmission or neuromodulation. One distinguishable population of LHRH+ neurons was consistently observed in all the brains. Only 26% of total LHRH+ perikarya within the caudal arcuate nucleus contained Fluoro-Gold, while at least 50% of LHRH+ neurons in other structures, including the rostral arcuate nucleus, contained Fluoro-Gold. Thus, in the prepubertal male ferret, the majority of LHRH cell bodies located in the caudal arcuate nucleus may be differentially regulated and/or involved in non-neuroendocrine functions.