Differing immunoreactivities of somatostatin in the cortex and the hypothalamus of the rat. A light and electron microscopic study.

Using an antibody against somatostatin (antiserum "F"), two somatostatin-immunoreactive systems, (i) a hypothalamic and (ii) an extrahypothalamic cortical system, are demonstrated in the rat. Another antiserum raised against somatostatin (antiserum "BS 102") stains only the axons but not the perikarya of the hypothalamic system; the cortical somatostatin system does not react with this antiserum. The electron microscopic findings do not allow decision whether the above-mentioned hypothalamic and cortical neurons possess a common prohormonal form of somatostatin, immunoreactive only with antiserum "F". They show, however, that the granules in both neuronal systems differ considerably; in the cortical neurons they measure approximately 65 nm in diameter, in the hypothalamic neurons 90--120 nm in diameter. Thus, both somatostatin systems are different and independent from one another.