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Rats with physically disconnected hypothalamo‐pituitary tracts no longer contain vasopressin‐oxytocin gene transcripts in the posterior pituitary lobe
Author(s) -
Mohr Evita,
Zhou An,
Thorn Niels A.,
Richter Dietmar
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(90)81407-f
Subject(s) - oxytocin , vasopressin , posterior pituitary , lobe , pituitary gland , endocrinology , medicine , biology , gene , hypothalamus , anatomy , hormone , genetics
In rats, vasopressin‐ and oxytocin‐encoding mRNAs are present in the posterior but absent in the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. RNase protection experiments indicate that in the posterior pituitary and hypothalamus identical transcriptional start points are used. Furthermore, the two transcripts from posterior pituitary and hypothalamus show identical nucleotide sequences. Animals operated by paired electrical lesions in such a way that connections between the supraoptic nucleus (SON) and paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus and the posterior pituitary lobeare destroyed continue to express the vasopressin and oxytocin gene in the hypothalamus but not in the posterior pituitary. Operated animals subjected to chronic intermittent salt loading for 6 days similarly contain vasopressin and oxytocin encoding transcripts in the hypothalamus but not in the posterior pituitary.