Thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH)-immunoreactive cell groups in the rat central nervous system.

Using a paraformaldehyde-picric acid-glutaraldehyde-containing fixative and treatment of the tissue with sodium borohydride, numerous and widespread TRH-immunoreactive cell bodies were observed in the central nervous system of colchicine-treated rats, including the olfactory bulb, cortical and hippocampal areas, the caudate nucleus and other subcortical areas, many hypothalamic nuclei, the periaqueductal central gray, pontine nuclei, medulla oblongata and the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Most of these cells could not be visualized with the same antiserum when conventional fixation methods based on formalin alone were used. The present findings suggest that TRH systems are considerably more extensive than hitherto assumed.