Enteric Neuroscience - Michael Camilleri

Leptin

A neuron in a mouse SMG ganglion was filled with a fluorescent dye and the ganglion preparation was stained for antibodies bound to leptin receptors. The leptin receptor field and the injected neuron were reconstructed in three dimensions and structures were false colored for identification. The reconstructed neuron was tiled and the movie created using animation software.

The blue circles are clusters of leptin receptors associated with the Golgi apparatus in unfilled cells in the ganglion. The filled cell is gold with a straw colored nucleus. The green structures in the soma of the filled cell are clusters of leptin receptors located on the Golgi apparatus.

The movie sequence starts with view from outside of the ganglion. The observer moves to the inside of the soma of the filled cell where the nucleus and leptin receptors surrounding the nucleus are seen. The observer is moved down the primary branch of the dendrite where clusters of leptin receptors bring transported for insertion into the dendritic membrane are identified. The observer is further moved down the secondary branch of the dendrite before returning back up the dendrite, through the soma and back outside of the ganglion.

Although the cell structures appear stylized because of the tiling process, they are real reconstructed data; the anatomical relationships and the location of the leptin receptors are preserved.

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