Autoradiographic visualization of CNS receptors for vasoactive intestinal peptide.

Receptors for VIP were characterized in the rat CNS. 125I-VIP bound with high affinity to rat brain slices. Binding was time dependent and specific. Pharmacology studies indicated that specific 125I-VIP binding was inhibited with high affinity by VIP and low affinity by secretin and PHI. Using in vitro autoradiographic techniques high grain densities were present in the dentate gyrus, pineal gland, supraoptic and suprachiasmatic nuclei, superficial gray layer of the superior colliculus and the area postrema. Moderate grain densities were present in the olfactory bulb and tubercle, cerebral cortex, nucleus accumbens, caudate putamen, interstitial nucleus of the stria terminalis, paraventricular thalamic nucleus, medial amygdaloid nucleus, subiculum and the medial geniculate nucleus. Grains were absent in the corpus callosum and controls treated with 1 microM unlabeled VIP. The discrete regional distribution of VIP receptors suggest that it may function as an important modulator of neural activity in the CNS.