Enkephalins co-exist with oxytocin and vasopressin in nerve terminals of rat neurohypophysis.

Evidence is accumulating that opiates inhibit the release of oxytocin and vasopressin by acting on nerve terminals in the neurohypophysis. Extracts of neurohypophysis have been shown to contain substantial amounts of Met- and Leu-enkephalin, and Leu-enkephalin-immunoreactive (IR) nerve fibres originating in the magnocellular hypothalamic nuclei have been described in the neural lobe, where the two hormones are secreted. We have compared the distribution of oxytocin, vasopressin and enkephalin immunoreactivity (IR) in the neurohypophysis of the rat, and report here that Met-enkephalin-IR is invariably associated with nerve terminals that contain oxytocin-IR whereas the terminals that contain vasopressin-IR often, but not invariably, are Leu-enkephalin immunoreactive.