FMRF-amide-like immunoreactivity in brain and pituitary of the hagfish Eptatretus burgeri (Cyclostomata).

Paraffin sections of brain and pituitary of the hagfish Eptatretus burgeri were immunostained with an antiserum to FMRF-amide. Immunoreactivity was visible in a large number of neurons in the posterior part of the ventromedial hypothalamus and in long neuronal processes extending cranially from the hypothalamus to the olfactory system and caudally to the medulla oblongata. FMRF-amide-like immunoreactivity was also found in cells of the adenohypophysis. These observations suggest that the hagfish possesses a brain FMRF-amide-like transmitter system and pituitary cells containing FMRF-amide-like material. Antisera to ACTH, alpha-MSH and pancreatic polypeptide gave no immunoreaction in hagfish brain or pituitary.