Immunocytochemical distribution of FMRFamide-like substance in the brain of the cloudy dogfish, Scyliorhinus torazame.

The distribution of the molluscan cardioexcitatory tetrapeptide FMRFamide (Phe-Met-Arg-Phe-NH2) in the brain of the cloudy dogfish, Scyliorhinus torazame, was examined by immunocytochemistry. FMRFamide-like immunoreactivity was demonstrated to occur extensively in various regions of the dogfish brain, except for the corpus cerebelli. Immunoreactive neuronal perikarya were located in the ganglion of the nervus terminalis, the preoptic area, and the hypothalamic periventricular gray matter consisting of the nucleus medius hypothalamicus, the nucleus lateralis tuberis, and the nucleus lobi lateralis. Some of the immunoreactive cells in the hypothalamus were identified as cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons. The bulk of the immunostained fibers in the nervus terminalis penetrated into the midventral portion of the telencephalon and ran dorsocaudally toward the basal telencephalon and hypothalamus, showing radial projections or ramifications. The labeled fibers were abundant in the midbasal part of the telencephalon and in the hypothalamus, where some fibers were found in loose networks around the cell bodies of the nucleus septi and hypothalamic periventricular nuclei. The fibers demonstrated in the hypothalamus terminated around the vascular wall of the primary capillary plexus of the median eminence or penetrated deeply into the pars intermedia of the hypophysis. These results suggest that, in the dogfish, an FMRFamide-like substance participates in the regulation of adenohypophysial function. This molecule may have a role as a neurotransmitter and/or neuromodulator in the central nervous system.