In vivo biosynthesis and transport of oxytocin, vasopressin, and neurophysins to posterior pituitary and nucleus of the solitary tract.

A growing body of literature suggests that oxytocin (OXY) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP), in addition to their neuroendocrine roles, may serve as neuromodulators within the central nervous system of mammals. The present study investigated the biosynthesis of OXY, AVP, and their associated neurophysins in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) and the transport of these peptides to the neural lobe and the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) in the brainstem of the rat. Rats were cannulated bilaterally in the PVN, and 24 hr later a 2-hr pulse of [35S]cysteine was administered using an Alzet minipump delivery system. After a 10-hr chase period, the neural lobe was removed and the PVN and NTS were punched. Tissue homogenates were adsorbed to and eluted from octadecyl-silica cartridges and analyzed by linear high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) gradient elution, chemical and enzymatic modification, and exponential gradient HPLC elution followed by linear HPLC gradient analysis using an ion-pairing buffer system. This rigorous approach has allowed us to identify 35S-labeled material which co-purifies with OXY and AVP from the PVN, neural lobe, and NTS samples. Specific transport of the nonapeptides to the NTS was demonstrated when a unilateral transection of the hypothalamic fibers resulted in a unilateral depletion of the radiolabeled peptides from the NTS samples. Additionally, each of the neurophysins was purified from the neural lobe and NTS samples after linear HPLC gradient analysis, ion-pairing buffer linear gradient analysis, then tryptic digestion followed by exponential gradient HPLC analysis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)