Helospectin and pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide in the human vagina.

Helospectin and pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP), both recently isolated from the poisonous saliva of the American lizard or from ovine hypothalamus respectively, belong to the same peptide family as vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), peptide histidine methionine (PHM) and glucagon. In the present study, occurrence and distribution patterns of nerve fibers containing helospectin- and PACAP-like immunoreactivity in the human vagina were investigated by immunohistochemistry. Double immunofluorescent labeling showed that helospectin or PACAP are co-expressed with VIP and PHM within subpopulations of VIP-immunoreactive nerve fibers.

Application of silver acetate autometallography and gold-silver staining methods for in situ DNA hybridization.

In situ hybridization using biotinylated DNA probes has become an important tool in histopathology. It is well known that the sensitivity of the methods used to demonstrate viral DNA in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded specimen depends strongly on the detection system used. In the present study, an optimized in situ DNA hybridization protocol was combined with four different approaches of gold-silver staining methods.