This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 149/1/50    most recent Author Manuscript (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Copyright Permission Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ricu, M. Articles by Lara, H. E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ricu, M. Articles by Lara, H. E.

Functional Development of the Ovarian Noradrenergic Innervation

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (M.R., A.P., M.G., H.E.L.), Laboratory of Neurobiochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 838-0492, Chile; and Oregon National Primate Research Center (S.R.O.), Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon 97006-3448

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: H. E. Lara, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universidad de Chile, P.O. Box 233, Santiago-1 838-0492, Chile. E-mail: hlara{at}ciq.uchile.cl.

A substantial fraction of the noradrenergic innervation targeting the mammalian ovary is provided by neurons of the celiac ganglion. Although studies in the rat have shown that noradrenergic nerves reach the ovary near the time of birth, it is unknown how the functional capacity of this innervation unfolds during postnatal ovarian development. To address this issue, we assessed the ability of the developing ovary to incorporate and release ³H-norepinephrine. Incorporation of ³H-norepinephrine was low during the first 3 wk of postnatal life, but pharmacological inhibition of norepinephrine (NE) neuronal uptake with cocaine showed that an intact transport mechanism for NE into nerve terminals is already in place by the first week after birth. Consistent with this functional assessment, the mRNA encoding the NE transporter was also expressed in the celiac ganglion at this time. During neonatal-infantile development [postnatal (PN) d 5–20], the spontaneous, vesicle-independent outflow of recently taken up NE was high, but the NE output in response to K⁺-induced depolarization was low. After PN d 20, spontaneous outflow decreased and the response to K⁺ increased markedly, reaching maximal values by the time of puberty. Tyramine-mediated displacement of NE stored in vesicles, which displace vesicular NE, showed that vesicle-dependent NE storage becomes functional by PN d 12 and that vesicular release increases during the juvenile-peripubertal phases of sexual development. These results indicate that vesicular release of NE from ovarian noradrenergic nerves begins to operate by the third week of postnatal life, becoming fully functional near the time of puberty.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. Sotomayor-Zarate, M. Dorfman, A. Paredes, and H. E. Lara Neonatal Exposure to Estradiol Valerate Programs Ovarian Sympathetic Innervation and Follicular Development in the Adult Rat Biol Reprod, April 1, 2008; 78(4): 673 - 680. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]