Volume 52 (11): 1519-1524, 2004 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc. GLUT2 Immunoreactivity in Gomori-positive Astrocytes of the Hypothalamus
Department of Anatomy, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, District of Columbia Correspondence to: John K. Young, Ph.D., Dept. of Anatomy, Howard University College of Medicine, 520 W Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20059. E-mail: jyoung{at}howard.edu
A specialized subtype of astrocyte, the Gomori-positive (GP) astrocyte, is unusually abundant and prominent in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. GP astrocytes possess cytoplasmic granules derived from degenerating mitochondria. GP granules are highly stained by Gomori's chrome alum hematoxylin stain, by the Perl's reaction for iron, or by toluidine blue. The source of the oxidative stress causing mitochondrial damage in GP astrocytes is uncertain, but such damage could arise from the oxidative metabolism of glucose transported into astrocytes by high-capacity GLUT2 glucose transporters. In accord with this hypothesis, the reported anatomical distribution of astrocytes staining positively for GLUT2 glucose transporters closely matches that of GP astrocytes. To examine whether or not these two staining procedures detect the same population of astrocytes, immunocytochemistry was performed on semithin sections to detect GLUT2 protein and sections were then stained with toluidine blue to detect GP granules. It was determined that GP astrocytes are frequently immunoreactive for the GLUT2 transporter protein. These data support the possibility that GP astrocytes may have an important influence upon the reactivity of the hypothalamus to glucose and that a specialized glucose metabolism may in part underlie the development of mitochondrial abnormalities in hypothalamic GP astrocytes. (J Histochem Cytochem 52:15191524, 2004)
Key Words: GLUT2 glucose arcuate nucleus mitochondria oxidative stress
AN UNUSUAL subtype of astrocyte, the Gomori-positive (GP) astrocyte, is particularly abundant in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. These cells can be visualized with light microscopy as astrocytes with ovoid, euchromatic nuclei that are surrounded by a cloud of granules intensely stained by Gomori's chrome alum hematoxylin stain or by toluidine blue. The identity of these cells as astrocytes is confirmed by immunoreactivity for the astrocyte protein, glial fibrillary acidic protein (Young et al. 1990
Increased glucose metabolism may be one factor underlying an enhanced oxidative stress in the arcuate nucleus. Several studies have reported the presence of high-capacity GLUT2 glucose transporter proteins in arcuate astrocytes and in arcuate tanycytes (Leloup et al. 1994
In the liver and islets of Langerhans, these high-capacity, low-affinity GLUT2 glucose transporter proteins represent a portion of the glucose-sensing mechanism of hepatocytes and ß cells. In the retina, GLUT2 transporters allow glial cells to take up and metabolize glucose at a substantially greater rate than that of neurons (Poitry-Yamate and Tsacopoulos 1992
The overall distribution of arcuate astrocytes immunoreactive for GLUT2 transporters reported in one study appears to match the anatomical distribution of GP astrocytes (Young et al. 1990 An initial step in examining this hypothesis is to determine if some or all GP astrocytes stain positively for the GLUT2 glucose transporter protein. That is the main goal of this study.
Experimental Animals Animal protocols were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Howard University College of Medicine. All rats used in this study were 68 months old, because the mitochondrial degeneration present in GP astrocytes is age dependent and becomes much more prominent and easily detectable in older animals (reviewed in Young et al. 1990
Immunocytochemistry for GLUT2 Transporters
GLUT2 immunoreactivity was demonstrated by use of a polyclonal rabbit antibody generously provided by Dr. William Pardridge. This antibody identified GLUT2 immunoreactivity in arcuate astrocytes in a recent publication (Ngarmukos et al. 2001
After this, sections were washed in PBS-0.1% Triton X-100, incubated for 30 min in biotinylated goat anti-rabbit IgG (Vectastain ABC kit; Vector Laboratories, Burlingame, CA), and washed once more in PBS-0.1% Triton X-100. To nullify endogenous sources of pseudoperoxidase such as the cytoplasmic granules of GP astrocytes, sections were then incubated for 30 min in PBS-0.3% hydrogen peroxide, followed by washing in PBS and a 60-min incubation in avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex. Immunoreactivity was then localized via the production of a brown precipitate of diaminobenzidine (DAB) at the sites of peroxidase-labeled antibody by exposing the sections to a 0.05% solution of DAB plus 0.03% hydrogen peroxide for 15 min (Young et al. 2000
Staining of GP Astrocytes
In an attempt to examine another staining method for GP astrocytes that is more compatible with immunocytochemistry, an approach described by Schipper and Mateescu-Cantuniari (1991)
To demonstrate GP granules in semithin sections, immunostained 60-µm-thick vibratome sections were flat embedded, sectioned at a thickness of 1 µm, and counterstained with 0.1% toluidine blue in 0.2 M acetate buffer (pH 4.5) so that GP granules appeared bright blue and cellular immunoreactivity retained a brown color attributable to DAB (Young et al. 1990
Frozen sections of brain stained with the DAB-intensified Perl's reaction for iron displayed minute, iron-containing granules of GP astrocytes that were clustered around faintly stained astrocyte nuclei and were evenly distributed throughout the arcuate nucleus (Figure 1) . Sections stained with the DAB procedure alone showed clusters of granules that were similar in general but less intensely stained and less easily detectable. Counts of GP granules in each section differed between the two staining procedures: an average of 45.7 ± 3.2 GP astrocytes were detectable via the Perl's method, whereas 11.3 ± 1.6 GP astrocytes were evident in each section of the arcuate nucleus after staining with DAB alone. It was concluded that the DAB stain, although more compatible with immunocytochemistry than the Perl's reaction, would not be suitable for a quantitative estimate of numbers of GP astrocytes in the arcuate nucleus.
Vibratome sections of liver showed GLUT2-immunoreactive (ir) at the perisinusoidal surfaces of hepatocytes (Figure 2A) . Immunoreactivity was absent from endothelial cells or from surfaces between hepatocytes that contributed to bile canaliculi. These results are consistent with those of other studies (Cramer et al. 1992
Antibodies were able to penetrate into the vibratome sections for only a few micrometers, so that patterns of immunoreactivity were confined to only a few semithin sections taken off of the top and bottom surfaces of each 60-µm-thick vibratome section. Thus, out of 240 semithin sections of hypothalamus, fewer than 40 sections manifested immunoreactivity in the arcuate region. In this brain region, GLUT2 immunoreactivity was visible as thin, brown streaks scattered throughout the arcuate nucleus. Highly elongated, thin immunoreactive processes that extended throughout the arcuate nucleus were readily identifiable as belonging to tanycytes (Figure 2E). In sections in which astrocyte cell nuclei happened to be in the same plane of section as the immunoreactivity, shorter GLUT2-ir cell processes could be seen adjacent to astrocyte nuclei that appeared to radiate away from the location of the cell nucleus. In most of these cases (44 out of 58 immunoreactive astrocytes), the GLUT2-ir was surrounded by a cloud of minute blue-stained, GP cytoplasmic granules (Figures 2B2E). In one fortuitous section apparently tangential to the surface of the astrocyte, immunoreactivity clearly followed the boundaries of the astrocyte cytoplasm and was enclosed by a collection of GP granules (Figure 2B). Only 4 out of 53 GP astrocytes that were present near traces of immunoreactivity were themselves lacking in GLUT2 immunoreactivity. No GLUT2 immunoreactivity was detected in brain regions dorsal to the hypothalamus or in sections exposed to nonimmune serum or to GLUT2 antibody preabsorbed with GLUT2 peptide (data not shown).
This study detected immunoreactivity for GLUT2 glucose transporters in tanycytes and astrocytes of the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. Two previous studies have also reported GLUT2 immunoreactivity in arcuate astrocytes, whereas a third study detected GLUT2 primarily in GFAP-positive arcuate tanycytes (Leloup et al. 1994
An unusual glucose metabolism of GP astrocytes may be one factor provoking oxidative damage and an age-related mitochondrial degeneration in these cells. During episodes of high blood glucose, glucose uptake into cells bearing high-capacity GLUT2 transporters would be increased. An increased glucose metabolism can provoke the type of oxidative stress in both pancreatic ß cells and in neural tissue that is thought to damage mitochondria in GP astrocytes (Yang et al. 1998
GLUT2 immunoreactivity in GP astrocytes may also have implications for the function of adjacent neurons. Neurons in the basomedial hypothalamus show an unusual sensitivity to changes in circulating glucose levels (Tkacs et al. 2000
Many of the glucose-sensing neurons of the hypothalamus appear to be dopaminergic (Briski 1998
It would be desirable to determine if GP astrocytes in other brain regions also possess GLUT2 transporters. For example, GP astrocytes can also be detected in the hippocampus (Young et al., 1996
Finally, the age-related damage to mitochondria in GP astrocytes may compromise the function of adjacent neurons. It is known, for example, that a specific blockade of oxidative metabolism in glial mitochondria by fluoroacetate can have serious consequences for the function of nearby neurons (Hülsmann et al. 2000
Supported by National Institutes of Health Grant 1 U54 NS-39407, by National Center for Research Resources Grant HL-50527, and by a Howard University Mordecai W. Johnson Research Support Grant.
Received for publication May 5, 2004; accepted May 12, 2004
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