Moratalla R, Vallejo M, Lightman S L
Medical Unit, Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, London, U.K.
Brain Res. 1988 May 31;450(1-2):398-402. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(88)91583-1.
We have investigated whether microinjections of arginine-vasopressin (AVP) into the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) of rats results in the stimulation of inositol phospholipid metabolism, a biochemical event related to the activation of V1-type receptors. We found that AVP, but not the related peptides oxytocin or deamino-D-AVP, increases the incorporation of [3H]myoinositol into lipids and the accumulation of labelled inositol phosphates in the dorsomedial medulla oblongata of lithium-treated rats. These effects were abolished by local pretreatment with D-(CH2)5-Tyr(Me)-AVP, a specific antagonist of V1-receptors. It is concluded that the effects of AVP in the NTS of rats are likely to be due to an action on specific receptors (V1-like) and subsequent activation of polyphosphoinositide turnover.
