Morphological equivalent of the bifunctional role of somatostatin.

Using the immunoenzyme bridge-technique at the light and electron microscopic levels, somatostatin can be demonstrated in the perikarya of the anterior periventricular nucleus, in the median eminence and in the parvocellular hypothalamic nuclei of the rat. In the latter regions the perikarya are negative, whereas a positive reaction for somatostatin is found in a delicate network of fibers and middle-sized granules of very small axons. In light of these results, the double function of somatostatin-as release inhibiting hormone and as transmitter-is discussed. The positive staining reaction in the organum vasculosum laminae terminalis of male and female rats as well as in the subfornical organ, the nucleus dorsalis thalami and the nucleus medialis habenulae in female controls and pregnant rats is not due to somatostatin-containing structures, but partly to substance P and partlly to a substance which could not be defined.