Sexually dimorphic age-related differences in the immunocytochemical distribution of somatostatin in the platyfish.

Somatostatin (SRIF) was localized by immunocytochemistry in the brains and pituitary glands of male and female platyfish (Xiphophorus maculatus) between the ages of 8 and 30 months (average life span is 30 months). In the brain, immunoreactive (ir-) SRIF is found in the perikarya of the ventrobasal hypothalamus (nucleus lateralis tuberis, nucleus anterior tuberis), dorsomedial hypothalamus, dorsal thalamus, ventral tegmentum and rhombencephalic basal plate; in the pituitary it is localized surrounding the ir-growth hormone containing cells of the caudal pars distalis, and in older fish it is also found within certain cells of the pars intermedia. We have demonstrated that there are consistent, sexually dimorphic, age-related changes in the intensity and/or distribution of ir-SRIF. The sexual dimorphism of the changes in SRIF immunoreactivity during the aging of platyfish may be related to the different patterns of growth observed in males and females.