The vasopressin and oxytocin content in the hypothalamus and neurohypophysis as influenced by reserpine treatment during long-term dehydration in the white rat.

In dehydrated rats both neurohypophysial hormones diminished in hypothalamus as well as in the neurohypophysis. Oxytocin disappearef from the hypothalamus and neurohypophysis at a more rapid rate than vasopressin did. The minimal content of vasopressin and oxytocin in the hypothalamus was observed during 3rd--4th day, but even in extreme dehydration it was found to be relatively high: 65 per cent of vasopressin and 27 per cent of oxytocin as compared with intact animals. At that time the neurohypophysial vasopressin and oxytocin content were almost fully exhausted. In dehydrated and additionally reserpinized animals (10 mg/kg intraperitoneally, then each 48 hr 5 mg/kg of initial body weight) the vasopressin and and oxytocin hypothalamus and neurohypophysis changed in a similar manner. In some experimental groups the decrease of neurohormones in both sites was more marked under reserpine treatment. The drug seems therefore rather to potentiate the effects of physiological stimulation of osmodetectors. So the existence of monoaminergic stimulatory synapses, directly involved in the neural pathway between the osmodetector and the neurosecretory cell, appears to be hardly probable.