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Updated: Oct 1, 2026

Comprehensive Profiling of Dopamine Regulation in Substantia Nigra and Ventral Tegmental Area
Published on: August 10, 2012
PACAP stimulates dopamine neuronal activity in the medial basal hypothalamus and inhibits prolactin
1Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia. anderson@plpk.uq.oz.au
Abstract:
In sheep intracerebroventricular injection of PACAP (10 nmol) significantly (P<0.01) stimulated the levels of the dopamine metabolite DOPAC within the medial basal hypothalamus (as measured by in vivo microdialysis) and this effect was temporally correlated with a significant (P<0.05) suppression in peripheral prolactin concentrations. This result is in accord with the hypothesis that PACAP suppresses prolactin secretion from the anterior pituitary gland by stimulating dopamine release from tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic neurons.
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