Prolactin in cerebrospinal fluid: a probable site of prolactin autoregulation

The purpose of this study was to examine the thesis that increasing concentrations of prolactin within the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) increase the activity of dopaminergic terminals within the median eminence and that this increased dopaminergic activity is temporally associated with a suppression of endogenous prolactin secretion. To avoid difficulties encountered in performing catecholamine turnovers in the undisturbed rat, the measurement of tyrosine hydroxylase was validated as an index of dopaminergic activity within the median eminence. In the median eminence, but not the medial preoptic area, parallel increases in the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase and the turnover of dopamine (but not norepinephrine) occurred following hyperprolactinemia. Twenty-six hours but not 2.5 h after the subcutaneous administration of ovine prolactin, the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase was increased in the median eminence, and endogenous prolactin secretion was inhibited. During a 26 h continuous intracerebroventricular (icv) infusion (88 ng/h) of rat prolactin, there was a complete suppression of endogenous prolactin secretion. Twenty-six but not 2.5 h after the initiation of the icv infusion of prolactin, there was an increase in tyrosine hydroxylase activity in the median eminence. The results of these studies suggest that: (1) measurement of tyrosine hydroxylase activity within the median eminence is a useful index of the activity of dopaminergic terminals; (2) increasing concentrations of prolactin within the CSF suppressed prolactin secretion by the anterior pituitary; (3) this suppression of prolactin is accompanied by an increased activity of dopaminergic terminals within the median eminence; (4) those neural structures concerned with the regulation of prolactin secretion respond directly to prolactin itself; (5) the autoregulation by prolactin of its own secretion manifests a certain latency more characteristic of a tonic rather than a phasic inhibitory control; and finally, (6) dopaminergic terminals in the median eminence but not the preoptic area appear uniquely sensitive to prolactin.