Neurophysin in the brain and pituitary gland of normal and scrapie-affected sheep--I. Its localization in the hypothalamus and neurohypophysis with particular reference to a new hypothalamic neurosecretory pathway to the median eminence.

By use of an immunofluorescence histochemical technique with a cross-species reactive antiserum to porcine neurophysin-II the precise localization of neurophysin in the pituitary gland and the hypothalamic area of the brain of the sheep has been determined. Neurophysin was confined to neurosecretory pathways originating from the supraoptic and paraventricular hypothalamic nuclei. The major pathway terminates in the neurohypophysis but in addition a second neurophysin-containing pathway proceeds in the external infundibular zone of the median eminence-pituitary stalk and is associated with the presence of vasopressin. In sheep affected with the hereditary degenerative disease known as natural scrapie, this supraoptico-paraventriculo-infundibular pathway is preserved and hypertrophied, while the major pathway to the posterior lobe of the pituitary degenerates. The supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei in the sheep comprise at least two distinct but morphologically similar neuronal populations affected differently by the natural scrapie genome, one undergoing dissolution by middle-age and one surviving and becoming hyperactive. This premature ageing is probably associated with a primary biochemical lesion affecting the rate of the axonal flow of neurosecretory vesicles and of their discharge at synaptic terminals. Possible metabolic and circulatory bases for such an anomaly are considered. The presence of neurophysin in the rostral and caudal adenohypophysis supports the view that vasopressin is acting directly as a trophic-hormone releasing factor, possibly for the quick release of adrenocorticotropic hormone and of growth hormone. The relation of neurophysin-rich aggregations in the neurohypophysis to Herring bodies and the turnover of neurosecretory material are discussed.