Regrowth of damaged neurosecretory axons to fenestrated vessels of implanted peripheral tissues.

A major target of neurosecretory axons (NSA) is the basal lamina around fenestrated blood vessels (FBV) in the neural lobe of the pituitary gland. We have posed the question of whether there is neurovascular specificity. Do mature, regenerating NSA terminate selectively on the FBV of the neural lobe compared with the FBV of other tissues that normally are not innervated by NSA? Three types of tissue were transplanted between inbred Fisher rats. Fragments, about 1 mm3, of pineal, adrenal medulla, and neural lobe were grafted bilaterally to the hypothalamic, retro-chiasmatic area, which includes bundles of NSA from supraoptic and paraventricular neurosecretory nuclei exclusively, but no FBV. Two and 4 weeks later, the grafts were prepared for the immunohistochemical localization of NSA and for electron microscopy. NSA-FBV proximity was measured, and the number of NSA, FBV, and of NSA-FBV associations was counted per surface area of each graft. Regenerating NSA can associate as closely with FBV of other tissues as they can with the FBV of the neural lobe. There does not appear to be specificity with respect to the closeness of association between neurosecretory terminals and fenestrated capillaries. However, the number of these associations is greater in neural lobe grafts than in adrenal or pineal grafts at 4 weeks. The number of FBV is also greatest in neural lobe grafts at this time, an increase that would provide a greater opportunity for NSA-FBV associations.