Oxytocin in Brattleboro rats: increased synthesis is contrasted by blunted intrahypothalamic release from supraoptic nucleus neurones.

Adult male Brattleboro rats were used to investigate the impact of the congenital absence of vasopressin on the release pattern of oxytocin (OXT) within the hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus (SON) in response to a 10-min forced swimming session and osmotic stimulation. Both immunohistochemical and in situ hybridisation data suggest that vasopressin-deficient animals have more oxytocin-synthesising neurones in the SON than homozygous wild-type controls. Unexpectedly, both forced swimming and peripheral osmotic stimulation resulted in a blunted release profile of oxytocin within the SON of vasopressin-deficient rats compared to controls. A similar intranuclear OXT response to direct osmotic stimulation of the SON by retrodialysis with hypertonic Ringer's solution in both genotypes confirmed the capability of SON neurones to locally release oxytocin in vasopressin-deficient rats, indicating an altered processing of information originating from multisynaptic inputs rather than a deficit in release capacity. Taken together with data obtained in previous studies, the present findings provide evidence suggesting that autocrine and paracrine signalling of magnocellular neurones differs within the paraventricular nucleus and the SON. Thus, significant alterations in intra-SON oxytocin mRNA levels cannot easily be extrapolated to intranuclear release profiles and the local signal intensity of this neuropeptide after physiological stimulation.