Astrocytic Fos expression in the rat posterior pituitary following LPS administration

Systemic lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration has been shown to cause profound Fos expression in multiple regions of the brain. In the present experiment, Fos expression in the hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus (SON), posterior pituitary, and anterior pituitary was investigated using quantitative immunohistochemistry. In the SON and anterior pituitary, a large number of Fos-positive cells were observed by restraint stress, hyperosmotic administration (1.5, 3, and 9% NaCl), and LPS administration (5, 25, and 125 microg/kg). In the posterior pituitary, LPS administration caused a significant increase in the number of Fos-positive nuclei in a dose-dependent manner, whereas restraint stress and hyperosmotic stimulation (1.5 and 3% NaCl) did not increase the number of Fos-positive cells and 9% NaCl administration induced weak Fos immunoreactivity. Moreover, a dual-labeling study using a confocal microscope revealed that Fos-positive cells in the posterior pituitary were astrocytes using MAP2, an astrocytic marker in the posterior pituitary. Here, we demonstrated that the astrocytes of the posterior pituitary expressed Fos in response to LPS administration, which suggests that Fos expression participates in the activation of astrocytes during acute-phase responses with LPS administration.