Passive immunoneutralization: a method for studying the regulation of basal and pulsatile hormone secretion.

The combination of passive immunoneutralization of an endogenous factor with frequent sampling techniques to delineate the pattern of secretion represents a powerful tool for dissecting the contribution of that factor to normal and/or abnormal pituitary function. Passive immunoneutralization offers all of the advantages of other known means of abolishing endogenous factors. It has the specificity and the selectivity of antagonists while retaining the potential for replacement of biological activity that is possible with organ removal or selective brain cuts or lesions. The only major drawback to this approach is the potential difficulty in obtaining the appropriate reagents. The inherent flexibility of the model, however, increases the probability of obtaining useful data with those reagents that are available. At present, the number of studies using immunoneutralization is relatively small, but the knowledge gained from these studies has been substantial. As the number of immunoneutralization and replacement studies increases in the future, the usefulness of this powerful approach will be extended to its full potential.