Abstract
IT is recognized that the various influences, nervous and osmotic, which bring about release of the hormones vasopressin and oxytocin from the neuroseeretory terminals in the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland act through the parent cells in the supra-optic and paraventricular nuclei. Such a scheme demands that these cell bodies in the hypothalamus regulate release of hormone from their terminals a considerable distance away and it is simplest to suppose that this regulation is effected by action potentials propagated down the supra-opticohypophysial tract. In this view the cells of the supra-opticohypophysial system possess the characteristic property of neurones—the propagation of action potentials–as well as the characteristic property of endocrine organs–the liberation of hormones into the blood stream1,2.
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References
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DOUGLAS, W. A Possible Mechanism of Neurosecretion: Release of Vasopressin by Depolarization and its Dependence on Calcium. Nature 197, 81–82 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/197081b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/197081b0
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