The Distribution Of CRF In Brain And Basic Circadian Rhythm Analysis Of Tree Shrew

Tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri chinensis), as a new rising star in neuroscience research, has quite a lot potential and tons of mysteries remained to be explored, especially of the peptinergic neurons distribution in whole brain, connections between different regions and the relationship with brain functions and networks.Distribution of CRF-immunoreactive (-ir) cells and fibers in tree shrew whole brain has been observed by immunohistochemical (IHC) techniques and compared with expressions in rats. In colchicine treated tree shrews, a large number of CRF-ir cells could be observed in following regions:accumbens nucleus, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus, medial preoptic area (MPO), dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus, reuniens thalamic nucleus, inferior colliculus, ventral tegmental area, Edinger-Westphal nucleus (EW), median raphe nucleus (MnR), dorsal raphe nucleus (DR.), locus coeruleus (LC), parabrachial nucleus (PB), dorsal tegmental nucleus, lateral reticular nucleus (LRt) and inferior olive (10). In addition, density of CRF-ir cells and fibers is significantly different in the BST, central nucleus of the amygdala, suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), EW, MnR,10, and LC between tree shrews and rats after saline and/or colchicine treatment.After application of Fluoro-Gold (FG) injected to SCN of tree shrew, FG-ir plaques could be observed in regions including lateral septal nucleus (LS), paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus, BST, nucleus of the diagonal band of Broca, ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, ventral subculum (VS), posterior complex of the thalamus, periaqueductal gray, mesencephalic reticular formation, LC, infralimbic cortex, MPO, perifornical region, medial habenular nucleus, DR, MnR, PB, nucleus of the solitary tract and LRt by IHC techniques which might indicate direct projection to and cricadian rhytmn connection with SCN.Daily locomotor behavior in housed condition have also been recorded and analysed. Under mutiple possible analysing methods, obvious gental difference and seasonal variantion have been observed. FFT-NLLS might be suitable for analysing the circadian rhythm of tree shrew locomotor behavior.