A hypothalamic-pituitary system that stimulates the release of plasminogen activator in the rat

We have studied the possible role of the hypothalamic-pituitary system in the control of the release of plasminogen activator (PA) into peripheral blood of male rats. Plasminogen activator was measured by euglobulin lysis time. Desamino-D- arginine vasopressin (dDAVP) and adrenaline injected i.v. induced an increase in plasma PA as did electrical stimulation of the median eminence (ME), but dDAVP had no effect on plasma PA in hypophysectomized rats. The PA response to ME stimulation was similar in Brattleboro rats (deficient in vasopressin) and adrenalectomized Wistar rats compared with intact Wistar rats, but was abolished by section of the pituitary stalk and was negligible in hypophysectomized rats. The 41-residue corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) had no effect on PA release. Saline extracts of anterior pituitary gland from both normal Wistar and Brattleboro rats produced a dose-dependent increase in plasma PA when injected into normal Wistar rats. The activity of pituitary tissue was abolished by boiling, but not by di-isopropyl fluorophosphate which inactivates PA itself. Thus the anterior pituitary gland of the rat contains a heat-labile factor which stimulates the release of PA from peripheral stores into the circulation. This pituitary factor is released by a hypothalamic factor that is neither vasopressin nor CRF.