Oxytocin receptors in rat kidney during development.

The development and characteristics of oxytocin (OT) receptors in the rat kidney were studied by light-microscopic autoradiography and on membrane preparations using the iodinated OT antagonist 125I-d(CH2)5[Tyr(Me)2,Thr4,Orn8,Tyr(NH2)9]OT. Specific binding was first detected by autoradiography at embryonic day 17 (E17) in both the cortex and the medulla. Cortical labeling was found thereafter at all ages examined including in the adult (postnatal day 90, PN90). It was localized on the distal tubule at the level of the juxtaglomerular apparatus. Medullary binding was detected only transiently during two stages of development, first, before PN6, and second, at the approximate time of weaning (PN20-PN30). Binding studies on crude membranes prepared from whole kidneys of animals aged between PN1 and PN15 showed a single class of high-affinity binding sites, with a dissociation constant of 0.13 +/- 0.08 nM. Thus transient OT binding sites expressed in the medulla do not differ from cortical OT binding sites; moreover, the ligand selectivity of kidney OT receptors regardless of location and age appears similar to that of previously characterized OT receptors. Our results suggest that OT may play a role in both renal development and renal function.