Radioimmunoassay of alpha rat atrial natriuretic peptide.

Specific antibodies to alpha 1-28 atrial natriuretic peptide have been raised and used for radioimmunoassay of tissue extracts and for light and electron microscopic immunocytochemistry. The radioimmunoassay has been used to quantitate ANP-immunoreactivity in normal rat heart and hypothalamus and immunocytochemistry to demonstrate its localisation in specific tissue structures. Gel chromatography and high pressure liquid chromatography confirm that the majority of ANP-like immunoreactivity in the atria exists as high molecular weight forms. Rat hypothalamus contains immunoreactive ANP; the concentration per gram of tissue being 2-4 thousand fold less than that of the cardiac atria. The supraoptic region of the hypothalamus did not have a significantly different concentration of ANP-like immunoreactivity from the hypothalamic region as a whole. Immunocytochemical staining with ANP antiserum revealed the cardiac ANP-immunoreactivity to be concentrated around the nuclear poles within the cytoplasm of atrial muscle cells. Electron microscopic study of atrial cells stained with the immunogold technique confirmed the localisation of the ANP immunoreactivity to electron-dense secretory granules. The highest density of regional immunoreactive staining was in the subepicardial area, the lowest in the interatrial septum. The finding that the highest quantities of ANP immunoreactivity occur in areas subjected to the greatest distensional forces supports the hypothesis that atrial stretch is a stimulus to the release of this peptide from cells.