Abstract
WE have previously reported that significant amounts of immunoreactive (ir)-Leu5-enkephalin were present in extracts of the neurointermediate lobe of the rat pituitary1. Negligible amounts of the pentapeptide were detected in the anterior lobe. In these assays, the concentration of Leu5-enkephalin in the neurointermediate lobe was higher than in the globus pallidus, the brain region reported to contain the densest enkephalinergic innervation2. The high content of (ir)-Leu-enkephalin in the neurointermediate lobe of the pituitary led us to further investigation of its distribution and possible function. We report here that (ir)-enkephalins in the pituitary are concentrated in nerve fibres projecting from the hypothalamus to the pars nervosa and that this pathway may be involved in the regulation of neurohypophysial neurosecretion.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Rossier, J. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74, 5162–5165 (1977).
Elde, R., Hökfelt, T., Johansson, O. & Terenius, L. Neuroscience 1, 349–351 (1976).
Rossier, J. et al. Life Sci. 21, 847–852 (1977).
Gros, C. et al. J. Neurochem. 31, 29–39 (1978).
Bloom, F. et al. Life Sci. 20, 43–48 (1977).
Bloom, F., Battenberg, E., Rossier, J., Ling, N. & Guillemin, R. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 75, 1591–1598 (1978).
Sar, M., Stumpf, W. E., Miller, R. J., Chang, K. J. & Cuatrescasas, P. J. comp. Neurol. 182, 17–38 (1978).
Valtin, H., Sokol, H. W. & Sunde, D. Recent Prog. Horm. Res. 31, 447–486 (1975).
Leppaluoto, J., Koivusalo, F. & Krama, R. Acta physiol. Scand. 104, 175–179 (1978).
Vale, W. et al. Metabolism 25, 1941–1944 (1976).
De Bodo, R. C. J. Pharmac. exp. Ther. 82, 74–85 (1944).
Simantov, R. & Snyder, S. Brain Res. 124, 178–184 (1977).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
ROSSIER, J., BATTENBERG, E., PITTMAN, Q. et al. Hypothalamic enkephalin neurones may regulate the neurohypophysis. Nature 277, 653–655 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/277653a0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/277653a0
This article is cited by
-
The Vasopressin 1b Receptor Antagonist A-988315 Blocks Stress Effects on the Retrieval of Object-Recognition Memory
Neuropsychopharmacology (2015)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
