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Evidence suggests that medial preoptic area (MPOA) neurones containing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are modulated directly by oestrogen. We have used an alkaline phosphatase-labelled antisense oligonucleotide probe to examine glutamic acid decarboxylase67 (GAD) mRNA expression within individual cells of the MPOA, diagonal band of Broca (DBB) and parietal cortex in rats killed at noon on each day of the oestrous cycle and after ovariectomy (n = 4-5). As a fall in extracellular GABA concentrations occurs in the MPOA on the afternoon of proestrus, the GAD67 mRNA content of cells was also examined in proestrous rats at 15:00h immediately prior to the preovulatory luteinising hormone (LH) surge. The MPOA was found to have an intermediate number of GAD67 mRNA-containing cells compared with the DBB and cortex (P less than 0.01) but expressed the lowest mean hybridisation signal (P less than 0.01). The parietal cortex had significantly fewer (P less than 0.01) GAD mRNA-containing cells than either the MPOA or DBB but these contained higher mean density of signal (P less than 0.01). The hybridisation signal for GAD mRNA was abolished by either ribonuclease pre-treatment or the use of excess non-labelled probe. No significant (P greater than 0.05) differences in GAD67 mRNA were detected in animals killed at noon throughout the oestrous cycle or after ovariectomy. On the afternoon of proestrus (15:00h) there was a significant 40% reduction in mean GAD67 mRNA content within cells of only the MPOA compared with noon (P less than 0.05). The numbers of cells in the MPOA expressing GAD67 mRNA were not significantly different.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Improvements in the sensitivity of non-radioactive in situ hybridization histochemistry methods for detection of mRNA now make it feasible to combine the use of non-radioactive and radioactive in situ methods to visualize two mRNAs on the same tissue section. The method reported here allows the simultaneous detection of two mRNAs in one cell and therefore is ideally suited to the studies of co-expression. Here we demonstrate the co-expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) mRNA and cholecystokinin (CCK) mRNA in the ventral mesencephalic dopaminergic neurones of the rat. The distribution of dopaminergic neurones containing both TH and CCK transcripts suggests, on the basis of earlier anatomical studies that these CCK/TH-containing doubled-labelled cells project mainly to the striatal matrix. Dopamine neurones believed to project to the patch compartment did not contain CCK mRNA.