Introduction. The distribution of the immunoreactive cell bodies and fibers containing neurotensin in the alpaca diencephalon was determined by an immunohistochemical technique. Material and methods. The study was carried out in four male alpacas that lived at sea level. Brains of deeply anesthetized animals were fixed by perfusion with 4% paraformaldehyde. Cryostat sections were stained by a standard immunohistochemical method. Results. Cell bodies containing neurotensin were observed in the zona incerta and hypothalamus. A low/moder-ate density of these cell bodies was observed in the lateral hypothalamic area, anterior and dorsal hypothalamic areas, suprachiasmatic nucleus, periventricular region of the hypothalamus and in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus. In both thalamus and hypothalamus, immunoreactive fibers showed a widespread distribution. In the thalamus, a high density of...

This work has been supported by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (BFU2005-02241/BFI), Spain and by the CONCYTEC: PROCYT project 2006, Peru. The authors thank Ewing Rafael Duque for his technical assistance, N. Skinner for stylistic revision of the English text and Professor Gerard Tramu (University of Bordeaux I, France) for kindly providing the CGRP antiserum.

The authors thank Professor Gérard Tramu (University of Bordeaux I, France) for kindly providing the first antisera and N. Skinner (University of Salamanca, Spain) for stylistic revision of the English text. This work has been supported by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (BFU2005-02241/BFI), Spain and the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (BFU2008-03369/BFI), Spain and by the CONCYTEC: PROCYT project 2006, Peru.

This work has been supported by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (BFU2005-02241/BFI), Spain and by the CONCYTEC: PROCYT project 2006, Peru. The authors thank Ewing Rafael Duque for his technical assistance, N. Skinner for stylistic revision of the English text and Professor Gerard Tramu (University of Bordeaux I, France) for kindly providing the CGRP antiserum.