Expression Of Vesicular Glutamate Transporter-1 During The Development Mouse Anterior Pituitary

It is universally acknowledged that the anterior pituitary is regulated by hypothalamic hormones released at the median eminence and carried to the gland via the portal system. In resent years, Professor Ju and his colleugues have postulated the hypothesis of neural-humoral dual regulation of the mammalian anterior pituitary, which serves as an important modification of classical theory.Glutamate is one of the major excitatory neurotransmitters in the mammalian central nervous system, and plays an important role in the fast synaptic transmission and neural plasticity. Its storage in synaptic vesicles is via VGluTs (vesicular glutamate transporters). VGluTs are located at the vesicle membranes and provide the vesicles with relatively high concentration of glutamate. Now three types of VGluTs with similar pharmacological characters have been discovered: VGluTI,VGluT2 and VGluT3.In recent years, studies have showed that VGluTs exist in cells of a number of endocrine organs and their roles are to store glutamate from intracytoplasmic vesicles to endocrine vesicles and form glutamatergic system in these endocrine cells. So we started our research in the different expression of VGluT1 during the development of mouse anterior pituitary by immunohistochemical staining methods.Mouse fetuses, neonatal mice and pregnant mice were selected in this experiment. By way of immunohistochemical staining methods, we observed the VGluT1 expression during the development of mouse anterior pituitary.The results are as the following:1. There was no existence of VGluT1 immuno-reactive product in E10.5 days, E16.5 day mouse fetuses.2. There were a little existence of VGluT1 immuno-reactive product in 2 days newborn mice, and much existence of VGluT1 immuno-reactive product in 10 days newborn mice.3. There were much more VGluT1 immuno-reactive products in the mice at day 10 of gestation than in the normal female mice. Through morphological methods, we proved that there was no existence of VGluT1 immuno-reactive product in mouse fetuses, and the expression of VGluT1 immuno-reactive product in newborn mice gradually increased with age, and there were much more VGluT1 immuno-reactive products in the mice at day 10 of gestation than in the normal female mice.