The activity of the hypothalamo-neurohypophysis during rehydration following water deprivation in the gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) and the laboratory rat (Rattus norvegicus).

Water deprivation in gerbils and rats for 5 and 3 days respectively resulted in the same degree of dehydration of the animals and similar depletion of the neurohypophyseal vasopressin stores. Following access to drinking water, the vasopressin stores were replenished in the gerbil and rat in 2 and 6 days respectively. It was suggested that the quicker restoration of the store in the gerbil was due to the greater ability to synthesize vasopressin and to continuing high activity of the neurosecretory cells until the stores were replete.