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Immunochemical evidence for the transport of neurophysin in the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system of the dog

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Summary

1. An immunohistochemical study has been made of the hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal system of the dog, 20h after crushing the pituitary stalk.

2. By use of a cross-species-reactive neurophysin antiserum it was shown that neurophysin is a component of the axons which originate in the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei and terminate around blood vessels in the posterior pituitary.

3. Neurophysin specific fluorescence accumulated in axons proximal to the constriction but was absent from the axons immediately distal to the site of injury.

4. In dogs left for six days it was shown by radioimmunoassay that the amount of neurophysin in the hypothalamus and stalk proximal to the constriction increased twofold while that remaining in the posterior pituitary and stalk distal to the constriction decreased five-fold over the same period.

5. The results are interpreted as evidence for a rapid axonal transport of neurophysin from its site of synthesis in the cell bodies of the hypothalamus to the posterior pituitary.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Anatomy, Oxford, U. K.

    R. Alvarez-Buylla

  2. Dept. of Physiology, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico 14. D. F.

    R. Alvarez-Buylla

  3. University Department of Pharmacology, Oxford, U. K.

    B. G. Livett, L. O. Uttenthal & D. B. Hope

  4. Biochemistry Department, Monash University Clayton, 3168, Victoria, Australia

    B. G. Livett

  5. Nuffield Department of Surgery, University of Oxford, U. K.

    S. H. Milton

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  1. R. Alvarez-Buylla
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  2. B. G. Livett
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  3. L. O. Uttenthal
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  4. D. B. Hope
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  5. S. H. Milton
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Acknowledgements: This work was supported by a research grant to D. B. Hope from the Medical Research Council. L. O. Uttenthal was supported by a Medical Research Training Award and B. G. Livett by a Nuffield Dominions Trust Demonstratorship (Australia). We thank Mrs. Marion Martin for radioimmunoassay of neurophysin, Miss Wendy Jones for technical assistance and the U.C.L.A. Brain Information Service for help with the bibliography.

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Alvarez-Buylla, R., Livett, B.G., Uttenthal, L.O. et al. Immunochemical evidence for the transport of neurophysin in the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system of the dog. Z.Zellforsch 137, 435–450 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00307222

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