The Responses of Vasopressin- and Tyrosine Hydroxylase-Expressing Neurons of the Supraoptic Nucleus in Rats to Chronic Osmotic Stimulation

The dynamics of intracellular contents of vasopressin and tyrosine hydroxylase in neuron bodies were studied in the supraoptic nucleus and the distant segments of their axons in the posterior lobe of the hypophysis in rats in conditions of salt loading lasting one, two, and three weeks. The number of vasopressin–immunoreactive neurons increased by the end of the second week of osmotic stimulation, due to the onset of vasopressin synthesis in neurons not synthesizing this hormone in normal physiological conditions. The vasopressin concentration decreased in cell bodies and axons during the first two weeks of salt loading, apparently because vasopressin release occurred at a greater level than vasopressin synthesis. During the third week, the intracellular vasopressin content remained essentially constant, demonstrating the establishment of dynamic equilibrium between the synthesis and release of the hormone. The number of tyrosine hydroxylase–immunoreactive neurons and the levels of tyrosine hydroxylase in neuron bodies and axons, at least in the largest swellings (Herring bodies), gradually increased, demonstrating that the rate of tyrosine hydroxylase was greater than its rate of enzymatic degradation. Thus, chronic stimulation of vasopressin neurons was accompanied by a series of adaptive reactions, the most important of which appears to be the expression of vasopressin and tyrosine hydroxylase synthesis by neurons which do not normally synthesize these compounds.