Vasopressin enhances the clearance of beta-endorphin immunoreactivity from rat cerebrospinal fluid.

The effect of intracerebroventricular (lateral ventricle) administration of arginine8-vasopressin (AVP) on the concentration of beta-endorphin immunoreactivity in the cerebrospinal fluid obtained from the cisterna magna was studied in rats. A decrease was observed 5 min following injection of 0.9 fmol AVP. No statistically significant changes were found 5 min after intracerebroventricular treatment of rats with 0.09 or 9 fmol. The decrease induced by 0.9 fmol AVP was of short duration and was found 5 min after treatment but not 10 and 20 min. Desglycinamide9-AVP (0.97 fmol), [pGlu4, Cyt6]-AVP-(4-9) (1.44 fmol), N alpha-acetyl-AVP (0.88 fmol), lysine8-vasopressin (0.94 fmol) and oxytocin (1 fmol) when intracerebroventricularly injected did not affect the levels of beta-endorphin immunoreactivity in the cerebrospinal fluid 5 min later. This suggests that the intact AVP-(1-9) molecule is required for this effect. Intracerebroventricular pretreatment of rats with the vasopressin V1-receptor antagonist d(CH2)5Tyr(Me)AVP (8.63 fmol) completely blocked the effect of AVP (0.9 fmol). In order to investigate further the underlying mechanism, the effect of AVP on the disappearance from the cerebrospinal fluid of exogenously applied beta-endorphin was determined. Following intracerebroventricular injection of 1.46 pmol camel beta-endorphin-(1-31), the beta-endorphin immunoreactivity levels in the cisternal cerebrospinal fluid increased rapidly, and reached peak values at 10 min. The disappearance of beta-endorphin immunoreactivity from the cerebrospinal fluid then followed a biphasic pattern with calculated half-lives of 28 and 131 min for the initial and the terminal phase, respectively. Treatment of rats with AVP (0.9 fmol; icv) during either phase (10, 30, 55 min following intracerebroventricular administration of 1.46 pmol beta-endorphin-(1-31)) significantly enhanced the disappearance of beta-endorphin immunoreactivity from the cerebrospinal fluid. The data suggest that vasopressin plays a role in the regulation of beta-endorphin levels in the cerebrospinal fluid by modulating clearance mechanisms via V1-receptors in the brain.