Birthdates of the growth hormone releasing factor cells of the rat hypothalamus: an autoradiographic study of immunocytochemically identified neurons.

Growth hormone releasing factor (GRF) neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus and somatostatin (SRIF) neurons in the anterior periventricular region of the hypothalamus act to control the release of growth hormone from the anterior pituitary. To investigate the possibility that the growth-controlling functions of these cells might be compromised by injuries to the developing brain, it is important to know the details of the production and differentiation of these small, specialized cell groups. The overall pattern of cell production in the hypothalamus is known from autoradiographic studies with general nuclear stains, but no data are available on the birthdates (times of final mitoses) of GRF-producing cells. The present study was undertaken to determine when the GRF cells form. Counts of immunocytochemically identified GRF cells labeled on given days were taken from serial coronal sections through the hypothalamus of adult rats labeled on the 10th-17th days of gestation (day of finding a vaginal plug = day 1). As has been shown for the hypothalamus in general, the GRF cells showed a gradient of production from anterior to posterior. The peak of anterior cell proliferation was on day 13, middle cells on day 14, and posterior cells on day 15. These dates are 1 or 2 days earlier than those of GRF-negative cells in the same regions. No lateral to medial gradient of formation was seen in GRF cells. Rather, the laterally placed cells along the base of the brain and those surrounding the ventromedial nucleus formed simultaneously with the GRF cells of the arcuate nucleus. The birthdating results presented here are in agreement with the results of studies of teratogens which suggest that rat postnatal growth is reduced most severely by exposure to neurotoxic agents on days 12 or 13 of gestation. On the basis of data for the whole hypothalamus, such treatments would appear to be too early to interfere with cell production for the arcuate nucleus, but the timing fits the period of vulnerability as defined by the birthdates determined in the present study for the subpopulation of cells destined to produce GRF.