Effect of chronic reserpine and desmethylimipramine treatment on CRF-like immunoreactivity of discrete brain areas of rat.

The corticotropin releasing factor-like immunoreactivity (CRF-LI) of discrete areas of rat brain were measured following reserpine (2 mg/kg i.p. for 3 days) or chronic desmethylimipramine (DMI) (20 mg/kg i.p. for 14 days) treatment. Reserpine caused a 40% and 36% reduction in the (CRF-LI) of the median eminence (ME) and posterior pituitary respectively, while DMI caused a 61% rise in CRF-LI of the posterior pituitary only. The results support the role of monoaminergic regulation of CRF release from the ME and further suggest an interaction between monoaminergic and CRF neurons in the posterior pituitary.