Studies on the vasopressin and oxytocin storage in the hypothalamus and neurohypophysis.

The effects of modified adrenergic transmission on the bioassayed storage of vasopressin and oxytocin in the hypothalamus and neurohypophysis under conditions of stress (cold or immobilization), disturbed water balance and pinealectomy are reviewed. Alpha-adrenergic mechanisms seem to be included in the response of vasopressinergic and oxytocinergic neurones to stress; on the other hand, impulses of osmoreceptor origin are of importance in regulatory processes affecting the functional response of these neurones to altered alpha-adrenergic transmission and also to melatonin. The beta-adrenergic (and, to some extent, also the alpha-adrenergic) transmission is probably involved in the neural mechanisms of the pineal-neurohypophysial relationship. Furthermore, a possible regulatory role of cholecystokinin in water metabolism and release of neurohypophysial hormones is suggested.