Oxytocin/vasopressin-like immunoreactivity is present in the nervous system of hydra.

Nerve cells have been found in hydra, which react with antisera to oxytocin, vasopressin and mesotocin. These nerve cells have a high density in the ectoderm of basal disk and tentacles and lower density in the ectoderm of peduncle, gastric region and hypostome. A very small number of nerve cells occur also in the endoderm of foot, gastric region and hypostome. By using a technique for simultaneous visualisation of nerve cells reacting with antisera to oxytocin and vasopressin, it can be shown that these nerve cells belong to a single population. In agreement with this, the staining of the nerve cells can be abolished by absorbing each antiserum with either oxytocin, vasopressin, [Lys8]vasopressin, vasotocin, mesotocin or isotocin, indicating that the antigenic determinant of hydra cross-reacts with those antibody subpopulations, which recognize common portions (sequence 1-2, 5-7, 9) of the oxytocin/vasopressin-like peptides. With radioimmunoassays that are specific for either oxytocin or vasopressin, only very low amounts of immunoreactivity were measured. In addition, the dilution curves in these assays were not parallel to the standards, indicating that the antigenic determinant of hydra is not oxytocin or vasopressin. The presence of oxytocin/vasopressin-like material in coelenterates, shows that this family of peptides is of great antiquity.