Table 1.

Comparative distribution of relaxin-3 and its receptor, RXFP3, in hypothalamic regions of rat and mouse brain.

Hypothalamic area/nucleus	RLN3-LI		RXFP3 mRNA		RXFP3 binding sites
	Mouse	Rat	Mouse	Rat	Mouse	Rat
Anterior hypothalamic n.	−/+	+ +	+	+ +	−/+	+
Arcuate n.	−	+	+	+	−	−/+
Dorsomedial hypothalamic n.	+	+ ++	+	+ ++	+	n.r.
Lateral hypothalamic area	+ ++	+ ++	+ +	+ +	+	+
Lateral mammillary n.	+ +	+	−/+	−/+	−	−
Lateroanterior hypothalamic n.	−/+	+ +	+	+ +	−	n.r.
Medial mammillary n.	+	+ +	−	+	−	−
Paraventricular hypothalamic n.	+	+ +	+ ++	+ ++	+ ++	+ ++
Periventricular hypothalamic n.	−/+	+	+ ++	+ +	+ +	+ +
Posterior hypothalamic area	+ ++	+ ++	+ +	+	+	n.r.
Premammillary n.	+	+ +	+	+	+	n.r.
Preoptic area, lateral	+ +	+ ++	+ +	+ +	+ +	+
Preoptic area, medial	−/+	+ +	+	+ ++	−/+	−/+
Suprachiasmatic n.	+	−/+	+	−/+	−	−
Supramammillary n.	+ ++	+ ++	+ +	+ +	−/+	−
Supraoptic n.	+ ++	+ +	+ ++	+ ++	+ +	+ ++
Tuberomammillary n.	+	+ ++	+	+ ++	+	n.r.
Ventromedial hypothalamic n.	+/+ +	+ +	+	+ +	+	n.r.

Relative abundance values are given: − not detectable, + low density, + + moderate density, + ++ high density, n.r. not reported). Adapted from Ma et al. (33), Smith et al. (34), Sutton et al. (32), Tanaka et al. (46), Allen Brain Institute Brain Atlas (http://mouse.brain-map.org/experiment/show/71358555). RLN3-LI, relaxin-3 like immunoreactivity.