Vasopressin and adrenal cortical interactions

Effect of oxytocin on growth hormone release in vitro

The effect of oxytocin (OT) on growth hormone (GH) secretion was investigated using dispersed rat anterior pituitary cells. OT dose-dependently inhibited GH secretion as well as GHRH-stimulated GH release. The inhibitory actions of OT on GH release were totally abolished by pretreatment with the OT-antagonist VAP 259. The peptides galanin and cholecystokinin did not affect the OT-induced inhibition on basal or GHRH-stimulated GH release. Several possible mechanisms by which OT may influence GH release are discussed.

Regulation of vasopressin gene expression: changes in the level, but not the size, of vasopressin mRNA following endocrine manipulations

1. Regulatory interactions between the hypothalamoneurohypophyseal vasopressin (VP) axis and the endocrine systems of the anterior pituitary have been investigated in the rat by observing changes in VP mRNA expression following endocrine manipulations. 2. An increase in the level, but not size, of VP mRNA was found in the supraoptic (SON) and paraventricular nuclei (PVN) of the hypothalamus and in the neurointermediate lobe (NIL) of the pituitary following hypothyroidism (induced by drinking 6-n-propyl-2-thiouracil; PTU) and adrenalectomy. Hypothyroidism induced by alternative procedures (surgical thyroidectomy or PTU injections) did not exert similar effects. 3. Treatment with the dopamine agonist bromocriptine to reduce prolactin secretion raised levels of VP mRNA in the NIL only. Castration did not up-regulate VP mRNA levels. 4. Since the observed effects on VP mRNA levels occur in the absence of changes in plasma osmolality, these results provide evidence of nonosmotic regulation of VP gene expression, an effect which is observed most clearly in the NIL pool of VP mRNA. Furthermore, the effects are distinct from changes in VP mRNA levels associated with raised plasma osmolality since the VP mRNA size was not increased.

Genomic effects of cold and isolation stress on magnocellular vasopressin mRNA-containing cells in the hypothalamus of the rat

We assessed the effects of cold and isolation stress on arginine vasopressin (AVP) mRNA in the paraventricular (PVN) and supraoptic (SON) nuclei of the hypothalamus. Vasopressin mRNA levels were determined by in situ hybridization histochemistry at the cellular level. In posterior magnocellular neurons of the PVN isolation stress for 7 or 14 days increased vasopressin mRNA levels 28 and 29%, respectively, compared to group-housed controls. No significant alterations in vasopressin gene expression were observed in the SON after 7 or 14 days of isolation stress. Scattered magnocellular AVP mRNA-expressing cells of the medial parvocellular PVN showed increases of 19 and 34% after 7 and 14 days of isolation, respectively. We also studied the effect of cold or combined cold and isolation stress on vasopressin gene expression in the PVN and SON. Cold stress for 3 h daily for 4 consecutive days increased AVP mRNA levels in the posterior magnocellular PVN by 15%. Cold-isolated animals showed an increase of 21%. No significant effect on AVP mRNA levels in the SON was observed. In contrast to the posterior magnocellular PVN, cold or cold-isolation stress increased AVP mRNA in magnocellular neurons of the medial parvocellular region of the PVN by 25 and 43%, respectively, relative to control rats. These results suggest that psychological and metabolic stress may be added to the list of stressors that activate the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system.

Effect of salt loading and salt deprivation on the vasopressin and oxytocin content of the median eminence and the neural lobe in adrenalectomized rats

In adrenalectomized rats the influence of salt loading or salt deprivation on the vasopressin and oxytocin content of the median eminence (ME) and the neural lobe (NL) was studied by means of various methods: morphometric and microphotometric analysis of aldehyde fuchsin-stained sections of ME and NL; immunohistochemical demonstration of neurophysin, oxytocin, and vasopressin in the ME and in the NL; radioimmunological measurement of oxytocin and vasopressin in the ME and in the NL. Adrenalectomy in salt-substituted rats raised the vasopressin content of the outer layer of the ME (OLME) but had no influence on the amount of vasopressin in the inner layer of the ME and in the NL. Osmotic stimulation of adrenalectomized rats by hypertonic saline markedly diminished vasopressin and oxytocin in the inner layer of the ME and in the NL but did not, or only slightly reduced vasopressin in the OLME. Withdrawal of salt supplementation in adrenalectomized rats resulted in a decrease of plasma sodium and plasma volume. It did not change the vasopressin or oxytocin content of the inner layer of the ME and of the NL, but it was correlated with a decrease of vasopressin in the OLME. The present findings may suggest that vasopressin in the OLME is involved in salt and/or volume regulation by influencing the hypophysial-adrenal axis.

The vasopressinergic innervation of the brain in normal and castrated rats

A detailed description is given of the distribution of vasopressin-immunoreactive structures in the brain of intact adult male rats. By application of a modified immunocytochemical procedure, vasopressin-immunoreactive fibers were detected in many new areas. In adult male rats which were castrated 15 weeks before death, vasopressin-immunoreactive cell bodies had disappeared from the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the medial amygdaloid nucleus. No obvious changes were found in vasopressin-immunoreactive cell bodies in other areas. Furthermore, a very strong reduction was seen in the density of vasopressin-immunoreactive fibers in the olfactory tubercle, nucleus of the diagonal band and its immediate surroundings, ventral pallidum, basal nucleus of Meynert, lateral septum, septofimbrial nucleus, ventral hippocampal formation, amygdaloid area, pre- and supramammillary nucleus, supramammillary decussation, (inter)dorsomedial, parafascicular, and ventral aspect of paraventricular thalamic nuclei, zona incerta, lateral habenular nucleus, ventral tegmental area, substantia nigra, periventricular gray, dorsal and median raphe nucleus, and locus coeruleus. No changes were observed in other areas containing vasopressin-immunoreactive fibers. These changes following gonadectomy were not observed in castrated rats which had been treated with testosterone. The results suggest that vasopressin projections from the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and possibly from the medial amygdaloid nucleus require the presence of gonadal hormones for their normal appearance. This is in contrast to pathways arising from the hypothalamic vasopressin-producing nuclei, which fail to show obvious changes following castration.