title: Posterior pituitary of the newborn marsupial possum, Trichosurus vulpecula.
abstract: The fetal anterior pituitary-adrenal axis is thought to be involved in the initiation of birth in both eutherian and marsupial mammals. Little is known about the structure and function of the posterior pituitary at birth in the marsupial. Immunocytochemistry, high pressure liquid chromatography, and radioimmunoassay were used to identify vasopressin and mesotocin in the posterior pituitary of a newborn marsupial, the brushtail possum, Trichosurus vulpecula. The concentrations of vasopressin and mesotocin in the head of the newborn possum were 0.34 and 0.28 ng, respectively. The concentration of vasopressin was always greater than that of mesotocin, and the amounts of neuropeptides present in the head increased as the possum developed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomical Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Gemmell
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chua
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Bathgate
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sernia
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009893:Opossums / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D010904:Pituitary Gland, Posterior / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000378:metabolism; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D014667:Vasopressins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014667:Vasopressins; C001713:mesotocin; D010121:Oxytocin