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Journal of Electron Microscopy Technique Aug 1989Neural crest derived precursors of the sympathoadrenal cell lineage give rise to two major cell types that differ in a number of morphological, ultrastructural, and... (Review)
Review
Neural crest derived precursors of the sympathoadrenal cell lineage give rise to two major cell types that differ in a number of morphological, ultrastructural, and biochemical characteristics: principal sympathetic neurons and chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla. The present article reviews experimental studies performed on cultured adrenal medullary cells and designed to unravel the nature of epigenetic signals governing the developmental choice between the endocrine chromaffin and the neuronal sympathetic phenotype. Emphasis is placed on the role of glucocorticoids in initiation, development, and maintenance of the endocrine chromaffin phenotype and apparently antagonistic influences exerted by nerve growth factor (NGF) in vitro, resulting in the acquisition of neuronal properties by differentiated chromaffin cells. Experimental data from in vitro studies are compatible with the following conclusions. Glucocorticoids represent the decisive signal for the initial induction of endocrine differentiation. Moreover, high steroid hormone concentrations, as present in the adrenal medulla, are a prerequisite for the maturation of chromaffin cells. Even in a differentiated state, the endocrine phenotype is unstable in the absence of glucocorticoids, and the cells seem to reenter the neuronal developmental pathway. Under these conditions, cellular survival and differentiation into sympathetic neurons become NGF-dependent, as in normal sympathetic development. Thus, the effects of NGF survival, neurite outgrowth, and transmitter synthesis of cultured chromaffin cells probably do not reflect the induction of a specific phenotype, but they may be interpreted as a general neurotrophic support observable with other responsive cell types.
Topics: Adrenal Medulla; Animals; Axons; Cell Survival; Cells, Cultured; Chromaffin System; Glucocorticoids; Humans; Nerve Growth Factors; Neuronal Plasticity; Paraganglia, Chromaffin
PubMed: 2671306
DOI: 10.1002/jemt.1060120412 -
The Anatomical Record. Part A,... Mar 2004Exocytosis is considered the main route of granule discharge in chromaffin cells. We recently provided ultrastructural evidence suggesting that piecemeal degranulation...
Exocytosis is considered the main route of granule discharge in chromaffin cells. We recently provided ultrastructural evidence suggesting that piecemeal degranulation (PMD) occurs in mouse adrenal chromaffin cells. In the present study, we processed rat adrenal glands for transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and examined chromaffin cells for changes characteristic of PMD. Both adrenaline (A)- and noradrenaline (NA)-storing cells express ultrastructural features suggestive of a slow and particulate mode of granule discharge. In adrenaline-containing cells, some granules present enlarged dimensions accompanied by eroded or dissolved matrices. Likewise, a number of granules in NA-releasing cells show content reduction with variably expanded granule chambers. Dilated, empty granule containers are recognizable in the cytoplasm of both cell types. Characteristically, altered granules and empty containers are seen intermingled with normal, resting granules. In addition, chromaffin granules often show irregular profiles, with budding or tail-like projections of their limiting membranes. Thirty 150-nm-diameter membrane-bound vesicles with a moderately electron-dense or -lucent internal structure are observable in the cytoplasm of both cell types. These vesicles are seen among the granules and some of them are fused with the perigranule membranes in the process of attachment to or budding from the granules. These data add further support to the concept that PMD may be an alternative secretory pathway in adrenal chromaffin cells.
Topics: Adrenal Medulla; Animals; Chromaffin Cells; Male; Particle Size; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley
PubMed: 14983514
DOI: 10.1002/ar.a.20004 -
Acta Histochemica May 2018The adrenal medulla is crucial for the survival of species facing significant environmental changes. The parenchyma is composed mainly of chromaffin cells, ganglion...
The adrenal medulla is crucial for the survival of species facing significant environmental changes. The parenchyma is composed mainly of chromaffin cells, ganglion cells and sustentacular cells (SC). The male viscacha exhibits seasonal variations of gonadal activity and other metabolic functions. The aim of this work was to investigate the influence of the reproductive conditions on the morphology of SC of this rodent. In addition, the effects of testosterone and melatonin on these cells were studied. Immunoexpression of S100 protein, GFAP and vimentin were analyzed. Furthermore, the distribution of adrenergic and noradrenergic chromaffin cells subpopulations was studied for the first time in this species. SC present long cytoplasmic processes in contact with chromaffin cells, probably generating an intraglandular communication network. Significant differences (p < 0.05) in the %IA (percentage of immunopositive area) for the S100 protein were observed according to winter (4.21 ± 0.34) and summer (3.51 ± 0.15) values. In castrated animals, the %IA (6.05 ± 0.35) was significantly higher in relation to intact animals (3.95 ± 0.40). In melatonin-treated animals the %IA (3.62 ± 0.23) was significantly higher compared to control animals (2.65 ± 0.26). GFAP immunoexpression was negative and no noradrenergic chromaffin cells were detected suggesting an adrenergic phenotype predominance. Vimentin was observed in SC, endothelial cells and connective tissue. Results indicate that SC exhibit variations along the annual reproductive cycle, along with castration and the melatonin administration. Our results suggest that in this rodent SC are not only support elements, but also participate in the modulation of the activity of the adrenal medulla; probably through paracrine effects.
Topics: Adrenal Medulla; Androgens; Animals; Immunohistochemistry; Male; Melatonin; Reproduction; Seasons
PubMed: 29628120
DOI: 10.1016/j.acthis.2018.03.009 -
Experimental Neurology Dec 1992Patients with Parkinson's disease have received intracerebral transplants of autologous adrenal medulla in the attempt to counteract their severe motor dysfunctions....
Patients with Parkinson's disease have received intracerebral transplants of autologous adrenal medulla in the attempt to counteract their severe motor dysfunctions. Unfortunately, in the majority of cases, clinical improvement has not persisted and there has been extremely poor survival of the grafts. Based on the recent observations of long-term viability of adrenal medulla grafts in the interior of transected peripheral nerves, adrenal medulla/peripheral nerve complexes were constructed in the brain to promote extended viability of chromaffin cells. A three-step, time-dependent transplantation procedure is described that results in a 100% survival rate of the adrenal medulla graft. The grafts consist of a stable population of approximately 2.0 x 10(3) chromaffin cells that survive for at least 6 months (longest time point studied): Immunoreactivity to catecholamine-related enzymes (tyrosine hydroxylase, dopamine beta-hydroxylase) and the low-affinity NGF receptor (192-IgG) are expressed by the chromaffin cells. The ultrastructural characteristics of the cells are normal and comparable to their in vivo counterparts. Construction of these peripheral nerve/adrenal medulla complexes evidently improves local conditions in and around the grafts, enabling the chromaffin cells to remain viable. This new methodology achieves the goal of reliable and extended survival of the adrenal medulla graft after intracerebral transplantation. The enhanced longevity now provides an opportunity to reevaluate the efficacy of the adrenal medulla transplant to ameliorate the functional disorders associated with striatal dopamine depletion, especially over long time periods.
Topics: Adrenal Medulla; Animals; Brain; Chromaffin System; Female; Graft Survival; Immunohistochemistry; Microscopy, Electron; Peripheral Nerves; Rats; Rats, Inbred Lew; Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase
PubMed: 1363982
DOI: 10.1016/0014-4886(92)90182-p -
Brain Research Jun 1987The results of this study show that grafts of adrenal medulla into the rat brain parenchyma or ventricle produced significant blood-brain barrier dysfunction....
The results of this study show that grafts of adrenal medulla into the rat brain parenchyma or ventricle produced significant blood-brain barrier dysfunction. Systemically administered protein rapidly entered either the grafts, the surrounding brain tissue or the cerebrospinal fluid. The grafted chromaffin cells avidly took up blood-borne radiolabelled amine. Thus, autonomic tissue transplants prevented normal reconstruction of the blood-brain barrier after surgery and indefinitely exposed host brain tissue to blood-borne compounds.
Topics: Adrenal Medulla; Animals; Blood-Brain Barrier; Brain; Cerebral Cortex; Cerebral Ventricles; Dopamine; Hippocampus; Horseradish Peroxidase; Immunoglobulin gamma-Chains; Proteins; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Transplantation, Autologous; Transplantation, Homologous
PubMed: 3113662
DOI: 10.1016/0006-8993(87)91346-1 -
Histochemistry Nov 1976Semithin sections (Araldite) of mouse adreno-medullary tissue were examined in the light microscope after perfusion fixation with glutaraldehyde,...
Semithin sections (Araldite) of mouse adreno-medullary tissue were examined in the light microscope after perfusion fixation with glutaraldehyde, glutaraldehyde/formaldehyde or after freeze-drying followed by a treatment with hot formaldehyde gas. The following methods were employed: (i) aldehyde-induced fluorescence of catecholamines, (ii) Schmorl's ferric ferricyanide reaction, (iii) argentaffin reaction, and (iiii) staining with alkaline lead citrate followed by Timm's silver sulphide reaction. The correspondence of results obtained by the various methods was proven in consecutive sections or by successively applying different methods to identical sections. Four types of primary catecholamine-storing cells were identified. NA1 cells contain cytoplasmic granules up to 0.3 mum in diameter which stain black with ammoniacal silver and display a bright white to yellow fluorescence. NA2 cells show smaller cytoplasmic granules which stain brown with the argentaffin method and give white catecholamine fluorescence. NA3 cells appear yellow-earth after applying the argentaffin reaction and show greenish fluorescence. NA4 cells are hardly identified in the light microscope. These cells are significantly smaller than the above mentioned cells and characterized by a high nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio. They become straw coloured with ammoniacal silver and show greenish fluorescence. The argentaffin reaction was also used to identify these cells in semithin sections of glutaraldehyde/osmium tetroxide fixed material. The fine structure of the various noradrenalin-storing cells was studied in consecutive thin sections. NA1 cells were found to contain two populations of granules, the larger ones measuring between 300 and 350 nm, the smaller ones about 175 nm. The granules in NA2 cells correspond to this latter population (175 nm). NA3 cells contain an uniform granule population with a main diameter of 120 nm. The smallest granules are seen in NA4 cells being in the dimension of 80 nm. Granules in NA1 and NA2 cells show uniformly high density, whereas those in NA3 and NA4 cells display cores of varying density. Granules with moderately dense cores in NA3 and NA4 cells may represent partially emptied sites of noradrenalin storage or dopamin containing particles.
Topics: Adrenal Medulla; Aldehydes; Animals; Female; Histocytochemistry; Male; Mice; Microscopy, Electron; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Norepinephrine
PubMed: 1002569
DOI: 10.1007/BF00492782 -
Cell and Tissue Research May 1978An electron microscopic, histo- and biochemical study was carried out on the adrenal medulla of newborn and adult guinea-pigs giving special emphasis to small...
An electron microscopic, histo- and biochemical study was carried out on the adrenal medulla of newborn and adult guinea-pigs giving special emphasis to small granule-containing (SGC) cells. Adrenaline (A) was the predominating catecholamine (CA) both in newborn (70-90% of total CA) and adult (85-90%) guinea-pig adrenals. In analogy to the biochemical findings electron microscopy revealed a high predominance of A cells, which contained large granular vesicles with an average diameter of 180 nm. Most noradrenaline (NA) storing cells showed granular vesicles of a considerably smaller average diameter (80 nm) and had a higher nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio. These cells were termed SGC-NA cells. NA cells with large granular vesicles (average diameter 170 nm) were extremely rare. Another type of SGC cells contained granular vesicles with cores of low to medium electron-density (SGC-NA-negative cells). Biochemical determinations made it unlikely that these cells contained predominantly dopamine (DA). SGC cells were scarcely innervated by cholinergic nerves. They formed processes, which were found both in the adrenal cortex and medulla contacting blood vessels including sinusoid capillaries, steroid producing cells of the reticularis and fasciculata zone and processes, which were interpreted to belong to medullary nerve cells. Two types of neurons were present in the guinea-pig adrenal medulla, one resembling the principal neurons in sympathetic ganglia, the other, which, principal neurons and SGC cells. In adrenomedullary grafts under the kidney capsule, which were studied three weeks after transplantation, "ordinary" A cells resembled SGC-NA negative cells with respect to their ultramorphology. Processes of transplanted principal neurons showed uptake of 5-hydroxydopamine and, hence, were considered to be adrenergic. Despite the lack of extrinsic nerves to the transplants, few principal neurons received cholinergic synapses, the origin of which is uncertain to date.
Topics: Adrenal Medulla; Animals; Catecholamines; Cytoplasmic Granules; Guinea Pigs; Kidney; Methyltransferases; Neurons; Phenethylamines; Transplantation, Autologous
PubMed: 667906
DOI: 10.1007/BF00223124 -
Developmental Biology Apr 2015The development of sympathetic neurons and chromaffin cells is differentially controlled at distinct stages by various extrinsic and intrinsic signals. Here we use...
The development of sympathetic neurons and chromaffin cells is differentially controlled at distinct stages by various extrinsic and intrinsic signals. Here we use conditional deletion of Dicer1 in neural crest cells and noradrenergic neuroblasts to identify stage specific functions in sympathoadrenal lineages. Conditional Dicer1 knockout in neural crest cells of Dicer1(Wnt1Cre) mice results in a rapid reduction in the size of developing sympathetic ganglia and adrenal medulla. In contrast, Dicer1 elimination in noradrenergic neuroblasts of Dicer1(DbhiCre) animals affects sympathetic neuron survival starting at late embryonic stages and chromaffin cells persist at least until postnatal week 1. A differential function of Dicer1 signaling for the development of embryonic noradrenergic and cholinergic sympathetic neurons is demonstrated by the selective increase in the expression of Tlx3 and the cholinergic marker genes VAChT and ChAT at E16.5. The number of Dbh, Th and TrkA expressing noradrenergic neurons is strongly decreased in Dicer1-deficient sympathetic ganglia at birth, whereas Tlx3(+)/ Ret(+) cholinergic neurons cells are spared from cell death. The postnatal death of chromaffin cells is preceded by the loss of Ascl1, mir-375 and Pnmt and an increase in the markers Ret and NF-M, which suggests that Dicer1 is required for the maintenance of chromaffin cell differentiation and survival. Taken together, these findings demonstrate distinct stage and lineage specific functions of Dicer1 signaling in differentiation and survival of sympathetic neurons and adrenal chromaffin cells.
Topics: Adrenal Medulla; Animals; Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors; Cell Survival; Chromaffin Cells; DEAD-box RNA Helicases; Ganglia, Sympathetic; Mice; Neural Crest; Ribonuclease III; Stem Cells
PubMed: 25661788
DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2015.01.026 -
The Journal of Physiology Oct 19801. The role of action potentials in adrenaline secretion was investigated in the rat adrenal medulla. The effects of various treatments on adrenaline secretion from the...
1. The role of action potentials in adrenaline secretion was investigated in the rat adrenal medulla. The effects of various treatments on adrenaline secretion from the perfused adrenal medulla were compared with the effects of similar treatments on spike frequency in dissociated adrenal chromaffin cells. 2. KCl concentrations between 10 and 20 mM increased the extracellularly recorded spike frequency of dissociated adrenal chromaffin cells. Upon perfusion by a KCl concentration of 30 mM there was an initial brief burst of spikes followed by a period of inactivity in the continued presence of 30 mM-Kcl. Tetrodotoxin (TTX, 6 microM) decreased the amplitude and frequency of the KCl evoked spikes. 3. The rate of adrenaline secretion from the isolated perfused rat adrenal gland increased as the KCl concentration was raised to 10 and up to 120 mM. Secretion which was evoked by KCl concentrations between 10 and 20 mM was partially inhibited by TTX. At KCl concentrations of 30 mM or greater evoked secretion was no longer affected by TTX. 4. CoCl2 (5 mM) blocked KCl increase of spike frequency and also blocked stimulation of adrenaline secretion by all concentrations of KCl tested. 5. Tetraethylammonium chloride (10 mM), which decreased spike frequency but greatly prolonged the spike duration, enhanced secretion induced by 15 mM-Kcl. 6. The results are consistent with the following interpretation. The TTX insensitive portion of the KCl stimulated adrenaline secretion is due to Ca influx through voltage dependent Ca channels which are open as a consequence of the steady-state level of KCl depolarization. The TTX sensitive portion of secretion is indicative of an extra increment of Ca influx during spike activity enhanced by KCl. This increment of Ca influx may occur through voltage dependent Ca channels whose activation is facilitated by the voltage changes caused during the TTX sensitive Na component of the spike and possibly through the Na channel itself. 7. Stimulation of secretion by acetylcholine (ACh) in the perfused adrenal medulla was half maximal at 15 microM and began to saturate around 50 microM. Release was partially inhibited by TTX only when the concentration of ACh was 10 microM or less. The possible role of action potentials in ACh stimulated adrenaline release is discussed.
Topics: Acetylcholine; Action Potentials; Adrenal Medulla; Animals; Cells, Cultured; Cobalt; Epinephrine; In Vitro Techniques; Male; Potassium Chloride; Rats; Secretory Rate; Tetraethylammonium Compounds; Tetrodotoxin
PubMed: 7205664
DOI: 10.1113/jphysiol.1980.sp013431 -
Life Sciences May 1975
Topics: Adrenal Medulla; Animals; Catecholamines; Dopamine beta-Hydroxylase; Epinephrine; Male; Nicotine; Rats; Time Factors; Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase
PubMed: 567
DOI: 10.1016/0024-3205(75)90079-x