Meeting Abstract
Nitric oxide (NO) first identified as an endogenous regulator of blood vessel tone, may also serve as a neurotransmitter. With a half-life of less than five seconds, NO has been examined by assessing the presence of enzymes responsible for the formation of NO. The NO producing enzyme, reduced nicotinamide dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d) is broadly distributed in the mammalian and avian brain, particularly in steroid-sensitive areas implicated in the control of reproductive behavior. In addition, distribution of NADPH-d corresponds to areas with dense populations of cells containing the aromatase enzyme (ARO). Previously, we found aromatase immunoreactive (ARO-ir) cells to occur at all levels of the male red-sided garter snake (RSGS) brain. However, cells containing the highest concentration of ARO-ir were concentrated in regions classically associated with the control of courtship behavior and mating. In the current study, we examined the anatomical relationship between ARO and NO by labelling ARO-ir and NADPH-d (NO-ir) cells. The distribution of ARO-ir cells was similar to that reported by Krohmer et al (2002) with NO-ir cells significantly overlapping the ARO-ir cells in regions critical for the control of courtship behavior, such as the preoptic area, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, nucleus sphericus, hypothalamus, and septum. Tissues double labelled for ARO and NADPH-d revealed a possible co-localization of these enzymes within the same cell subset. Based on these data, the close association of ARO-ir and NO-ir cells suggest input from NO-positive neurons may modulate the expression or activity of ARO in the male red-sided garter snake brain.
