The effect of hypophysectomy and prolactin therapy on water balance of the brown trout Salmo trutta.

A technique for the hypophysectomy of the brown trout is described which might be applicable to other salmonids. Hypophysectomy produced a decrease in water turnover which was corrected by prolactin therapy. Hypophysectomy resulted in a decrease in the next flux of osmotic water. Both osmotic and diffusional water permeabilities were evenly decreased after hypophysectomy, such that the ratio of the osmotic and diffusional permeability coefficients (Pos/Pd) retained a value of approximately unity. The data suggest that calcium and prolactin have opposing actions on water balance and that their modes of action are likely to separate.