The effect of intraventricular 6-hydroxydopamine on the content of oxytocin and vasopressin in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland of water-deprived rats.

The effect of intraventricular 6-hydroxydopamine on the content of oxytocin and vasopressin in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland of water deprived rats. Acta Physiol. Pol., 1977, 28 (6): 497-504. Rats received one infusion of 200 microgram 6-hydroxydopamine with 25 microgram of ascorbic acid into the lateral cerebral ventricle. After 57 days some rats were deprived of water for 4, 8 or 12 days. Then, the animals were sacrificed by decapitation. Oxytocin was determined in extracts from the posterior pituitary lobe and hypothalamus by the method of Van Dongen and Hays, while the vasopressin content was determined by the method of Dekanski. It was found that 6-hydroxydopamine injection into the cerebral ventricles causes a rise in oxytocin content in the hypothalamus and prevents its fall during--4--12 days of dehydration.