Neuropeptide Y was isolated from the porcine brain in 1982 and shown to be colocalized with noradrenaline in sympathetic nerve terminals. The peptide has been demonstrated to be present in sympathetic nerve fibers innervating the pineal gland in many mammalian species. In this investigation, we show by use of immunohistochemistry that neuropeptide Y is present in nerve fibers of the adult human...

There are some suggestions that, in the pineal gland, serotonin acts not only as a precursor of melatonin but also plays a role in the modulation of the pineal biosynthetic activity. To corroborate this possible neuromodulatory role of 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) (5-HT) on the pineal gland, the effects of two 5-HT(2) receptor agonists meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (m-CPP) and 1-(2, 5-dimethox...

A form of experimental allergic uveitis (EAU) can be elicited in guinea pigs by injection of an extract of homologous retina homogenate (S preparation). These guinea pigs exhibit clinical and histological ocular disease as well as cellular and humoral immune responses to S preparation. Recent studies have shown an immunofluorescent crossreactivity of the sera of these animals (anti-S) with reti...

Previous work suggested that the circadian burst of outer segment disc shedding that occurs soon after the onset of light in the morning might be mediated by the pineal gland. In the present study the pineal glands of albino rats were either surgically removed or deafferented by bilateral superior cervical ganglionectomy. Neither surgical procedures affected the burst of disc shedding at 2, 3, ...

The interaction of immunological system, thyroid and pineal gland was studied in 5-week old males of Gallus domesticus. Several morphometrical parameters in pineal and thyroid glands were measured after bird immunization with human red blood cells and/or treatment with melatonin or seduxen, melatonin receptor blocker. The peak of the thyroid activity was found on Day 7 after immunization. The i...

In the present paper, the diencephalic origin of the chick pineal gland was analyzed by a series of experiments: prosencephalic substitution; in vitro culture of isolated diencephalons; and total or partial excission of the diencephalic roof. The results indicate that the differentiation of the chick pineal gland in the rooof of the third ventricle is not influenced by the neighbouring brain ve...

The aim of our study was to determine, using histological and stereological methods, whether photoperiodism has any impact on the effects that chronic (three-month long) exposure to LF-EMF (50Hz) has on morphological characteristics on rat's pineal gland. The experiment was performed on 48 Mill Hill male rats (24 experimental and 24 control). Upon birth, 24 rats were exposed for 7h a day, 5 day...

S progress is punctuated with revolutions of insight andyor technology that at least temporarily cast aside valid frames of thought. Like the Titanic losers to the Olympian gods in Keats’ unfinished epic Hyperion (1) from whence the title of this commentary comes, ‘‘vanquished’’ ideas or approaches frequently offer important alternatives to prevailing model systems. The successes of molecular g...