Altered expression of tyrosine hydroxylase in the locus coeruleus noradrenergic system in citalopram neonatally exposed rats and monoamine oxidase a knock out mice.

In rodents, noradrenergic (NE) locus coeruleus (LC) neurons are well known to express tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity. However, due to its very low enzyme activity, NE cortical fibers do not typically express TH immunoreactivity, thus dopamine-β-hydroxylase (DBH) immunoreactivity is commonly utilized as a marker for NE cortical fibers. In this study, we performed double and/or triple immunofluorescent staining using antibodies against TH, DBH, and/or norepinephrine transporter (NET) to investigate the altered NE TH expression of cortical fibers in citalopram (CTM)-exposed rats and monoamine oxidase (MAO) A knock out (KO) mice. We have noted the following novel findings: (1) neonatal exposure to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) CTM enhanced NE TH immunoreactive fibers throughout the entire neocortex, and a few of them appeared to be hypertrophic; (2) slightly enhanced NE cortical TH immunoreactive fibers were also noted in MAO A KO mice, and many of them revealed varicosities compared with the rather smooth NE cortical TH immunoreactive fibers in wild-type (WT) mice; (3) LC dendrites of MAO A KO mice exhibited beaded morphology compared with the smooth LC dendrites in WT mice. Our findings suggest that both genetic and environmental factors during early development may play a critical role in the regulation and proper function of NE TH expression in the neocortex.