Immunohistochemical study of TAFII250 in the rat laryngeal nervous system

The cause of spasmodic dysphonia, a dystonic disorder of the larynx, remains unclear. Recently, TAFII250, TATA-box binding protein associated factor, was suggested to be involved in dystonia parkinsonism. There is a possibility that TAFII250 is involved in spasmodic dysphonia, but little information is available about the expression of TAFII250 in the laryngeal nervous system. In this study, we investigated the localization of TAFII250 protein in the rat laryngeal nervous system by immunohistochemistry. TAFII250-immunoreactivity was detected in the nodose ganglion and superior cervical ganglion. In these nuclei, TAFII250 was localized in the nucleus of NeuroTrace-positive neurons but not in GFAP-positive glial cells. No positive cells were detected in the motor and parasympathetic nervous system. TAFII250-immunoreactivity was sustained between 3 and 7 days after vagotomy, but at 14 days expression was down-regulated in the distal part of the nodose ganglion. These findings suggest that TAFII250 plays an important role in the laryngeal innervation of the sensory and sympathetic nervous systems.