Isolation, radioimmunoassay and physiologic secretion of rat neurophysins.

Rat posterior pituitaries were extracted in acid and total rat neurophysins were isolated. Preparative disc gel electrophoresis separated the total neurophysins into three main peptides of differing electrophoretic mobility. Antisera raised in rabbits recognized a common antigenic site in the three peptides and identical radioimmunoassay standard curves were obtained with each of the isolated rat neurophysins. A homologous rat neurophysin radioimmunoassay was utilized to measure neurophysin in samples of unextracted rat plasma. Basal neurophysin levels, 3.7 +/- 0.2 ng/ml (mean +/- SEM), did not differ in samples collected by decapitation, carotid artery cannulation, or tail vein bleeding. Water-loading caused a significant reduction in neurophysin, 2.8 +/- 0.1 ng/ml, while hypertonic saline and dehydration caused a significant elevation, 10.4 +/- 2.1 and 8.0 +/- 1.4 ng/ml, respectively. A step-wise decrease in blood volume caused a step-wise increase in plasma neurophysin concentrations which returned to baseline with reinfusion of the withdrawn blood. A second hemorrhage caused an even greater release of neurophysin indicating large neurophysin reserve in the pituitary. In periodic tail vein samples over 23 days of pregnancy a rise in plasma neurophysin was found from day 14 continuing to parturition with a peak value of greater than 13 ng/ml by day 21. Two days postpartum the value was 4.6 +/- 0.3 ng/ml. With this homologous assay, the basal levels of plasma neurophysin are lower and the stimulated values higher than with previously reported heterologous assays. Therefore, the relative change with physiologic maneuvers is distinctly increased.