Abstract |
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases, affecting over 5 million people in the United States. Previous work in our laboratory demonstrates the importance of luteinizing hormone (LH) signaling in learning and memory and AD. Though we have also previously demonstrated that LH is present in the brain, the neuroanatomical and cellular localization of LH has not been determined. To address this, we carried out immunofluorescence of free floating coronal sections to determine in which regions of the brain and cellular types LH are located. Immunoreactivity of LH is observed in limbic system areas associated with emotion as well as learning and memory and several midbrain motor nuclei. Importantly, high expression of LH is visualized in the retrosplenial cingulate cortex and other areas of critical importance in AD. Furthermore, we have also identified the expression of LH and GAD67 to be neuronally co-localized and the expression of LH to be localized to inhibitory neurons. Together our findings demonstrate that LH localization and the co-localization of LH and GAD67 are in areas and cell types important in regulating cognitive and emotional circuits. Thus, our data further supports a direct role of this hormone in cognition.
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Modified Abstract |
Previous work in our laboratory demonstrates the importance of luteinizing hormone (LH) signaling in learning and memory and AD, yet the neuroanatomical and cellular localization of LH has not been determined. Immunofluorescence was used to determine in which brain regions and cellular types LH are located. Immunoreactivity of LH is observed in areas associated with emotion as well as learning and memory, with high expression of LH is visualized in areas of critical importance in AD. Furthermore, we have also identified the expression of LH and GAD67 to be neuronally co-localized and the expression of LH to be localized to inhibitory neurons. Our findings demonstrate that LH localization and the co-localization of LH and GAD67 further support a direct role of this hormone in cognition.
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