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Ret expression in the central nervous system
Author(s) -
Hagihara Naoshi,
Fukuyama Kouzou,
Tabuchi Kazuo
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
neuropathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.701
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1440-1789
pISSN - 0919-6544
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1789.1998.tb00136.x
Subject(s) - glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor , pathology , immunostaining , central nervous system , immunohistochemistry , neural crest , myelin , biology , medicine , neurotrophic factors , neuroscience , receptor , microbiology and biotechnology , embryo
The ret proto‐oncogene product (Ret) has been shown to be one of the glial cell line‐derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) receptors in dopaminergic, norepinephric and motor neurons. We immunohistochemically examined the expression of Ret in the human central nervous system (CNS). The distribution of Ret was generally identical to that of myclin as stained using the Klüver‐Barrera method. We further investigated the expression of Ret in human fetal brains (19, 29 and 39 weeks gestation) and various brain tumors. The Ret positivity was observed to be associated with the myelin sheath of the cerebral white matter in 29‐and 39‐week‐old fetal brains. Ret is known to be expressed in neural crest‐derived cells. We could immunohistochemically confirm the Ret expression in the pheochromocytomas and neuroblastomas of retroperitoneal space. As for the brain tumors, no Ret expression was observed in glioblastomas, oligodendrogliomas, and schwannomas examined, although the glial cells surrounding the tumor and the pre‐existing myelin sheath revealed positivity for Ret. In the CNS, Ret expression appears to be closely associated with the myelin sheath; therefore, Ret immunostaining may be useful in ascertaining the demyelinating lesions in the CNS.