Abstract
Summary
Using an in vitro CRF assay employing cultured rat adenohypophyseal cells from adrenalectomized female donors and ACTH measurement by radioimmunoassay, the distribution of corticotrophinreleasing factor (CRF) activity and immunoreactive ACTH within the hypothalamic-neurohypophyseal complex and cerebral cortex was compared in various mammalian species (rat, sheep, pig, dog, cattle and man). For all species studied the highest concentration of CRF activity was always in the hypophyseal stalk. ACTH concentration was higher in the pars nervosa of the posterior pituitary lobe than in the stalk or hypothalamic median eminence in rat, sheep, cattle, and man, whereas in the pig and dog ACTH concentration was higher in the stalk than in the pars nervosa or median eminence.
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