Neuropeptidomics of the Rat Habenular Nuclei.

Conserved across vertebrates, the habenular nuclei are a pair of small symmetrical structures in the epithalamus. The nuclei functionally link the forebrain and midbrain by receiving input from and projecting to several brain regions. Each habenular nucleus comprises two major asymmetrical subnuclei, the medial and lateral habenula. These subnuclei are associated with different physiological processes and disorders, such as depression, nicotine addiction, and encoding aversive stimuli or omitting expected rewarding stimuli. Elucidating the functions of the habenular nuclei at the molecular level requires knowledge of their neuropeptide complement. In this work, three mass spectrometry (MS) techniques-liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to Orbitrap tandem MS (MS/MS), LC coupled to Fourier transform (FT)-ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) MS/MS, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) FT-ICR MS-were used to uncover the neuropeptide profiles of the rodent medial and lateral habenula. With the assistance of tissue stabilization and bioinformatics, a total of 262 and 177 neuropeptides produced from 27 and 20 prohormones were detected and identified from the medial and lateral habenula regions, respectively. Among these neuropeptides, 136 were exclusively found in the medial habenula, and 51 were exclusively expressed in the lateral habenula. Additionally, novel sites of sulfation, a rare post-translational modification, on the secretogranin I prohormone are identified. The results demonstrate that these two small brain nuclei have a rich and differentiated peptide repertoire, with this information enabling a range of follow-up studies.

[Administration of epithalamine in the treatment of unstable glaucoma of different types after normalization of intraocular pressure]. / Primenenie épitalamina dlia lecheniia razlichnykh tipov nestabilizirovannogo techeniia glaukomy posle normalizatsii vnutriglaznogo davleniia.

The treatment effect and clinical efficacy of epithalamine solution was studied on 28 patients (42 eyes) with unstable glaucoma and normalized intraocular pressure (IOP). Epithalamine belongs to the group of cytomedines and it has a modeling effect on the functional activity of the simpatico-adrenaline system, adrenal cortex and anti-oxidizing activity. The clinical study showed that the use of epithalamine solution resulted in normalization of the biochemical activity of the neuro-humoral triphism (adrenaline, norepinephrine, and hydrocortisone). It leads to an increased diameter of arterioles of the bulbar conjunctiva and of the optic disk as well as to a decreased degree of congestive angiopathy and of intravascular aggregation of erythrocytes.