흰쥐의 뇌에서 BNP를 생성분비하는 신경세포를 형태학적으로 동정하기 위하여 colchicine을 외측 뇌실에 주입한 후 4% paraformaldehyde-lysine periodate로 관류고정한 뇌에 면역조직화학 반응을 시행하여 관찰한 바 다음과 같은 결론을 얻었다. BNP를 함유하는 세포는 타원형 혹은 다각형의 신경세포 였으며 뇌실옆핵(paraventricular nucleus), 옆둔덕핵(parabrachial nucleus), 청색반점(locus ceruleus), 흑색질(substantia nigra), 안면신경핵(nucleus of facial nerve), 등쪽 미주신경핵(dorsal vagal nucleus), 설하신경핵(hypoglosal nucleus), 솔기핵(raphenucleus) 및 의문핵(nucleus ambiguus) 등 주로 자율신경과 관련된 신경핵들과 수분의 조절기전에 관계하는 신경핵들에 분포하였다.

Brain natriuretic peptide(BNP) is a recently discovered neuropeptide from porcine brain and is highly homologous to atrial natriuretic peptide. This study was carried out to localize the BNP containing neurons morphologically and investigate the distribution in rat brain. Colchicine injections were made into the lateral ventricle of brain, and rats were perfused with 4% paraformaldehyde-lysine periodate and brains were resected after 48 hours. By Immunohistochemical staining with Avidine-Biotin-Complex method, BNP containing neuronal cells showed strong immunoreactivity in situ. Mostly, BNP containing neurons were multipolar in shape and were localized at the areas of paraventricular nucleus, parabrachial nucleus, locus ceruleus, substantia nigra, nucleus of facial nerve, dorsal vagal nucleus, hypoglossal nucleus, raphe nucleus and nucleus ambiguus.