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Gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons and pathways in the brain of the female mink (Mustela vison)

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Summary

The distribution of gonadotropin-releasing hormone-immunoreactive neurons and processes was mapped in the female mink brain using coronal, horizontal and sagittal sections. Perikarya were found along a ventral continuum including the olfactory tubercle, the diagonal band of Broca, the lateral septum, the preoptic and anterior hypothalamic area and the mediobasal hypothalamus; 80% of the perikarya were counted in the mediobasal hypothalamus. Fibres were mainly observed in the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis and the median eminence. A few processes terminated in the ependymal cells lining the third and lateral ventricles. The total number of immunoreactive perikarya was the highest in the brains of females sacrificed in July; it then significantly decreased until December. This variation is discussed in relation to the annual breeding cycle.

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Toumi, F.N., Martinet, L. & Peytevin, J. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons and pathways in the brain of the female mink (Mustela vison). Cell Tissue Res 270, 383–393 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00328022

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