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Horm Metab Res 1990; 22(8): 413-417
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-1004936
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© Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart · New York

Ultrastructural Localization of Prolactin-Like Antigenic Determinants in Neurosecretory Cells in the Brain of the Honeybee (Apis Mellifica)

K. P. Schmid, V. Maier, C. Haug, E. F. Pfeiffer
  • Medizinische Universitätsklinik und Poliklinik, Abteilung Innere Medizin I, Universität Ulm, Ulm, Germany
This work is part of the thesis of K.P.S.
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Publication History

1989

1990

Publication Date:
14 March 2008 (online)

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Summary

With two different antisera to human prolactin (hPRL), the ultrastructural localization of PRL-like material in the bee brain is examined by means of the protein-A-gold method at the electron microscopical level. Labelling is found in electron-dense granules of medium size (150-200 nm in diameter) for the first time in insects. Such granules are distributed in the cytoplasm of the neurosecretory cells, their axons and their axon-terminals. The electron-dense granule is one criterion for identifying a neurosecretory cell. In the honeybee, hPRL-like material may serve as an old neurohormone with respect to its evolution.

Key words

Comparative Endocrinology - Honeybee - Neurosecretory Granula - Prolactin