Periventricular-hypophysial dopaminergic neurons innervate the intermediate but not the neural lobe of the rat pituitary gland.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the relative distribution of axon terminals of A14 periventricular-hypophysial dopaminergic (PHDA) neurons in the neural and intermediate lobes of the rat pituitary gland. Discrete unilateral injections of the anterograde tracer Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) into the periventricular nucleus resulted in labelling of extensively branched terminal axonal arbors in the intermediate lobe, but not the neural lobe of the pituitary gland. In contrast, unilateral injections of PHA-L into the paraventricular nucleus revealed thick, varicose terminal arborizations containing PHA-L in the neural lobe, but not the intermediate lobe. Terminal axonal branches and varicosities containing PHA-L immunoreactivity in the intermediate lobe were also immunoreactive for tyrosine hydroxylase. These results reveal that A14 PHDA neurons originating in the periventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus project axons to the intermediate lobe of the rat pituitary gland.