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Immunohistochemical demonstration of a CRF-associated neurophysin in the external zone of the rat median eminence

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Summary

In picric acid-formalin fixed, paraplast embedded median eminence sections from normal and bilaterally adrenalectomized rats, the amount of “Gomori-positive” neurosecretory material and the amount of protein, cross reacting against a porcine neurophysin-II antiserum were determined.

In normal rats, “Gomori-positive” substances and neurophysin were confined to the internal zone of the median eminence. After adrenalectomy, however, “Gomori-positive” granules and a neurophysin-like protein also became apparent in the external zone. Their amount increases, if the animals are treated with DOCA from the 15th to the 21st day after the operation. The distribution of the neurophysin-like protein in the external zone is similar to that of the “Gomori-positive” granules.

Since the granules are regarded as a morphological correlate of the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) it is assumed, that the protein, appearing in the external zone after adrenalectomy and cross-reacting against the neurophysin antiserum is a CRF-associated neurophysin. For this substance the name “CRF-neurophysin” is proposed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Postgraduate School of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    W. B. Watkins

  2. Anatomisches Institut der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, D-5300, Bonn, Germany

    P. Schwabedal & R. Bock

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  1. W. B. Watkins
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  2. P. Schwabedal
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  3. R. Bock
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This work was supported by grants from the Medical Research Council of New Zealand and from the Landesamt für Forschung, Nordrhein-Westfalen (BRD).

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Watkins, W.B., Schwabedal, P. & Bock, R. Immunohistochemical demonstration of a CRF-associated neurophysin in the external zone of the rat median eminence. Cell Tissue Res. 152, 411–421 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00218928

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