Vasopressin mediates alpha 1-adrenergic stimulation of adrenocorticotropin secretion.

In conscious rats bearing venous and cerebroventricular cannulae, central administration of the alpha 1-adrenergic agonist methoxamine stimulated the secretion of ACTH, and the effect was reduced by the alpha 1-antagonist prazosin. Methoxamine was more potent in stimulating ACTH secretion when injected icv than peripherally, suggesting that the stimulant alpha 1-adrenoceptors are located in the brain rather than in the periphery. In order to investigate the relative roles of hypothalamic CRF-41 and vasopressin as mediators of the stimulant effects of alpha 1-adrenoceptors on ACTH secretion, we examined the effects of equipotent doses of antagonists to CRF-41 and vasopressin on the ACTH responses to methoxamine. The effect of methoxamine was reduced by the vasopressin antagonist dPTyr(Me) arginine vasopressin but not by the CRF-41 antagonist alpha-helical CRF-9-41, suggesting that vasopressin is more important than CRF-41 in mediating the effects of alpha 1-adrenoceptors on ACTH secretion. However, the combination of the two antagonists caused a reduction in the ACTH response to methoxamine that was greater than that of the vasopressin antagonist alone. This suggested that CRF-41 plays some role in this response, possibly by enhancing the activity of vasopressin in a synergistic manner. These two hypothalamic peptides seem to account for most of the ACTH releasing activity of alpha 1 adrenoceptor activation.