The supraoptic nucleus (SON) is a nucleus of magnocellular neurosecretory cells in the hypothalamus of the mammalian brain. The nucleus is situated at the base of the brain, adjacent to the optic chiasm, and, in humans, it contains about 3,000 neurons. The cell bodies produce two closely-related peptide hormones, vasopressin and oxytocin. Every supraoptic neuron is thought to make either oxytocin or vasopressin, although a few make both. In the cell bodies, the hormones are packaged in large, membrane-bound vesicles which are transported down the axons to the nerve endings. Similar magnocellular neurons are also found in the paraventricular nucleus. In neuroanatomy, a nucleus is a central nervous system structure that is composed mainly of gray matter, and which acts as a hub or transit point for electrical signals in a single neural subsystem. ... Magnocellular neurosecretory cells are cells within the supraoptic nucleus and paraventricular nucleus. ... In the anatomy of mammals, the hypothalamus is a region of the brain located below the thalamus, forming the major portion of the ventral region of the diencephalon and functioning to regulate certain metabolic processes and other autonomic activities. ... The cell body or soma is a structure in a neuron consisting of the main part of the cell and containing the nucleus. ... Peptides (from the Greek πεπτος, digestible), are the family of short molecules formed from the linking, in a defined order, of various α-amino acids. ... A hormone (from Greek horman - to set in motion) is a chemical messenger from one cell (or group of cells) to another. ... Arginine vasopressin (AVP), also known as argipressin or antidiuretic hormone (ADH), is a human hormone that is mainly released when the body is low on water; it causes the kidneys to conserve water by concentrating the urine and reducing urine volume. ... Oxytocin is a hormone, found in mammals, which in humans is released mainly after stimulation of the nipples or distention of the vagina and which facilitates birth and breastfeeding. ... Oxytocin is a hormone, found in mammals, which in humans is released mainly after stimulation of the nipples or distention of the vagina and which facilitates birth and breastfeeding. ... Arginine vasopressin (AVP), also known as argipressin or antidiuretic hormone (ADH), is a human hormone that is mainly released when the body is low on water; it causes the kidneys to conserve water by concentrating the urine and reducing urine volume. ... An axon, or nerve fiber, is a long slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, that conducts electrical impulses away from the neurons cell body or soma. ... The paraventricular nucleus (PVN) is an aggregation of neurons in the hypothalamus, adjacent to the third ventricle. ...

Every (or nearly every) neuron in the nucleus has one long axon that projects to the posterior pituitary gland, where it gives rise to about 10,000 neurosecretory nerve terminals. The magnocellular neurons are electrically excitable: In response to afferent stimuli from other neurons, they generate action potentials which propagate down the axons. When an action potential invades a neurosecretory terminal, the terminal is depolarised, and calcium enters the terminal through voltage-gated channels. The calcium entry triggers the secretion of some of the vesicles by a process known as exocytosis. The vesicle contents are released into the extracellular space, from where they diffuse into the bloodstream. An axon, or nerve fiber, is a long slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, that conducts electrical impulses away from the neurons cell body or soma. ... The posterior pituitary (also called the neurohypophysis) comprises the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland and is part of the endocrine system. ... Schematic of an electrophysiological recording of an action potential showing the various phases which occur as the wave passes a point on a cell membrane. ... Exocytosis is the process by which a cell is able to get rid of large molecules or materials including wastes through its membrane. ...

Regulation of supraoptic neurons

Vasopressin is secreted from the pituitary gland in response to an increase in the sodium concentration of the blood (such as after a period of dehydration), or in response to a fall in the volume of the blood (such as after hemorrhage). Vasopressin acts at the kidneys to promote resorption of water (antidiuresis), producing a more concentrated urine. Vasopressin also constricts many peripheral blood vessels. Kidneys viewed from behind with spine removed The kidneys are bean-shaped excretory organs in vertebrates. ...

Oxytocin is secreted in large amounts during birth, when it causes the uterus to contract, thus assisting in expelling the fetus from the birth canal. Oxytocin secretion also plays an essential role in lactation; oxytocin acts at the mammary gland to cause milk to be let down in response to suckling. Many other stimuli can cause the secretion of oxytocin and vasopressin, but these are thought to be the most important physiological factors. Childbirth (also called labo(u)r, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a human pregnancy with the emergence of a newborn infant from its mothers uterus. ... The uterus or womb is the major female reproductive organ of most mammals, including humans. ... Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands, the process of providing that milk to the young, and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. ... Cross section of the breast of a human female. ...

For vasopressin and oxytocin to be secreted at appropriate times, the cell bodies must be activated by relevant stimuli (see 1-4). The electrical activity of supraoptic neurons is regulated by inputs from many different brain regions. Some inputs come from structures adjacent to the anterior wall of the third ventricle (the subfornical organ, the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, and the nucleus medianus); these provide information relevant for the regulation of body fluid and electrolyte homeostasis, in which the secretion of vasopressin plays a particularly important role. The Subfornical organ is one of the circumventricular organs of the brain and is involved in thirst-regulation. ... The organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis (OVLT) is one of the circumventricular organs of the brain . ... Arginine vasopressin (AVP), also known as argipressin or antidiuretic hormone (ADH), is a human hormone that is mainly released when the body is low on water; it causes the kidneys to conserve water by concentrating the urine and reducing urine volume. ...

Some other inputs come from the brainstem, including from some of the noradrenergic neurons of the nucleus of the solitary tract and the ventrolateral medulla. However many of the direct inputs to the supraoptic nucleus come from neurons just outside the nucleus (the "perinuclear zone"). Oxytocin neurons respond to stimulation of the nipples (resulting in milk let-down) and in response to uterine contractions and distension of the birth canal (the "Ferguson reflex"), but the pathways by which these stimuli reach the neurons are not fully known. The solitary nucleus and tract are structures in the brainstem. ...

Of the afferent inputs to the supraoptic nucleus, most contain either the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA or the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, but these transmitters often co-exist with various peptides. Other afferent neurotransmitters include noradrenaline (from the brainstem), dopamine, serotonin and acetylcholine. Chemical structure of GABA Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a neurotransmitter in widely divergent species. ... Glutamate is the anion of glutamic acid. ...

The supraoptic nucleus as a "model system"

The supraoptic nucleus is an important "model system" in neuroscience. There are many reasons for this: some technical advantages of working on the supraoptic nucleus are that the cell bodies are relatively large, the cells make exceptionally large amounts of their secretory products, and the nucleus is relatively homogeneous and easy to separate from other brain regions. The gene expression and electrical activity of supraoptic neurons has been studied extensively, in many physiological and experimental conditions (6). These studies have led to many insights of general importance, as in the examples below.

Morphological plasticity in the supraoptic nucleus

Anatomical studies using electron microscopy have shown that the morphology of the supraoptic nucleus is remarkably adaptable (7-9). For example, during lactation there are large changes in the size and shape of the oxytocin neurons, in the numbers and types of synapses that these neurons receive, and in the structural relationships between neurons and glial cells in the nucleus. These changes arise during parturition, and are thought to be important adaptations that prepare the oxytocin neurons for a sustained high demand for oxytocin. Oxytocin is essential for milk let-down in response to suckling. The electron microscope is a microscope that can magnify very small details with high resolving power due to the use of electrons rather than light to scatter off material, magnifying at levels up to 500,000 times. ... Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands, the process of providing that milk to the young, and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. ... Synapses allow nerve cells to communicate with one another through axons and dendrites, converting electrical signals into chemical ones. ... Neuroglia cells of the brain shown by Golgis method. ... Childbirth in a hospital. ...

These studies showed that the brain was much more "plastic" in its anatomy than previously recognised, and led to great interest in the interactions between glial cells and neurons generally.

Pulsatile hormone secretion

In 1973, Jonathan Wakerley was a graduate student working in Bristol under the supervision of Dennis Lincoln. In a series of elegant experiments (10), Wakerley showed the behavior of oxytocin neurons in response to the suckling stimulus. By recording the electrical activity of single neurons in the supraoptic nucleus of anesthetised rats, he showed that,in response to suckling, the oxytocin neurons discharge action potentials in brief intense synchronised bursts. These bursts occurred ever few minutes while the pups were suckling at the nipples, and each burst caused the release of a large pulse of oxytocin into the blood that resulted in a large rise in intramammary pressure, reflecting acute milk let-down. Similar bursts of electrical activity occur during parturition, associated with each birth (5).

The importance of these experiments was in showing that the role of the hypothalamus was to produce a patterned response to the continuous stimulus of suckling. For oxytocin to be effective in causing milk let down, it is important that it is released in large, discrete pulses - if oxytocin is delivered continuously rather than in pulses, the mammary gland rapidly desensitises (4).

Before these experiments, it was often assumed that the concentrations of circulating hormones change relatively slowly. These experiments prompted researchers to study the temporal pattern of hormone secretion much more closely. They found that many hormones, including most of the hormones secreted from the anterior pituitary gland, are also released in pulses, and that these pulsatile patterns are very important for the biological efficacy of the hormonal signals. The anterior pituitary (also called the adenohypophysis) comprises the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland and is part of the endocrine system. ...

Stimulus-secretion coupling

In response to, for instance, a rise in the plasma sodium concentration, vasopressin neurons also discharge action potentials in bursts, but these bursts are much longer and are less intense than the bursts displayed by oxytocin neurons, and the bursts in vasopressin cells are not synchronised (1).

It seemed strange that the vasopressin cells should fire in bursts. As the activity of the vasopressin cells is not synchronised, the overall level of vasopressin secretion into the blood is continuous, not pulsatile. Richard Dyball and his co-workers speculated that this pattern of activity, called "phasic firing", might be particularly effective for causing vasopressin secretion. They showed this to be the case (11) by studying vasopressin secretion from the isolated posterior pituitary gland in vitro. They found that vasopressin secretion could be evoked by electrical stimulus pulses applied to the gland, and that much more hormone was released by a phasic pattern of stimulation than by a continuous pattern of stimulation.

These experiments led to interest in "stimulus-secretion coupling" - the relationship between electrical activity and secretion. Supraoptic neurons are unusual because of the large amounts of peptide that they secrete, and because they secrete the peptides into the blood. However many neurons in the brain, and especially in the hypothalamus, synthesize peptides. It is now thought that bursts of electrical activity might be generally important for releasing large amounts of peptide from peptide-secreting neurons.

Dendritic secretion

Supraoptic neurons have typically 1-3 large dendrites, most of which project ventrally to form a mat of process at the base of the nucleus, called the ventral glial lamina. The dendrites receive most of the synaptic terminals from afferent neurons that regulate the supraoptic neurons, but neuronal dendrites are often actively involved in information processing, rather than than being simply passive receivers of information. The dendrites of supraoptic neurons contain large numbers of neurosecretory vesicles that contain oxytocin and vasopressin, and they can be released from the dendrites by exocytosis. The oxytocin and vasopressin that is released at the posterior pituitary gland enters the blood, and cannot re-enter the brain because the blood-brain barrier does not allow oxytocin and vasopressin through, but the oxytocin and vasopressin that is released from dendrites acts within the brain. Oxytocin neurons themselves express oxytocin receptors, and vasopressin neurons express vasopressin receptors, so dendritically-released peptides "autoregulate" the supraoptic neurons. Francoise Moos and Phillipe Richard first showed that the autoregulatory action of oxytocin is important for the milk-ejection reflex. In biology, a dendrite is a slender, typically branched projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, which conducts the electrical stimulation received from other cells to the body or soma of the cell from which it projects. ... The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a membrane that controls the passage of substances from the blood into the central nervous system. ...

These peptides have relatively long half-lives in the brain (about 20 minutes in the CSF), and they are released in large amounts in the supraoptic nucleus, and so they are available to diffuse through the extracellular spaces of the brain to act at distant targets. Oxytocin and vasopressin receptors are present in many other brain regions, including the amygdala, brainstem, septum, and most other nuclei in the hypothalamus Location of the amygdala in the human brain The amygdala (Latin, corpus amygdaloideum) is an almond-shaped set of neurons located deep in the brains medial temporal lobe. ... The brain stem is the stalk of the brain below the cerebral hemispheres. ... A septum, in general, is a wall separating two cavities or two spaces containing a less dense material. ...

Because so much vasopressin and oxytocin are released at this site, studies of the supraoptic nucleus have made an important contribution to understanding how release from dendrites is regulated, and in understanding its physiological significance.

Co-existing peptides

Vasopressin neurons and oxytocin make many other neuroactive substances in addition to vasopressin and oxytocin, though most are present only in small quantities. However, some of these other substances are known to be important. Dynorphin produced by vasopressin neurons is involved in regulating the phasic discharge patterning of vasopressin neurons, and nitric oxide produced by both neuronal types is a negative-feedback regulator of cell activity. Oxytocin neurons also make dynorphin, in these neurons, dynorphin acts at the nerve terminals in the posterior pituitary as a negative feedback inhibitor of oxytocin secretion. Oxytocin neurons also make large amounts of cholecystokinin and cocaine-and amphetamine regulatory transcript (CART). Dynorphin (Dyn) is a popular and powerful opioid ligand. ... The chemical compound nitric oxide is a gas with chemical formula NO. It is an important signaling molecule in the body of mammals including humans, one of the few gaseous signaling molecules known. ... Cholecystokinin (from Greek chole, bile; cysto, sac; kinin, move; hence, move the bile-sac (gall bladder)) is a peptide hormone of the gastrointestinal system responsible for stimulating the digestion of fat and protein. ...

References

1.Armstrong WE, Stern JE. (1998) Phenotypic and state-dependent expression of the electrical and morphological properties of oxytocin and vasopressin neurones.Prog Brain Res. 119:101-13. PMID 10074783

2.Voisin DL, Bourque, CW. (2002) Integration of sodium and osmosensory signals in vasopressin neurons. Trends Neurosci. 25, 199-205. PMID 11998688

3.Cunningham JT, Penny ML, Murphy D. (2004) Cardiovascular regulation of supraoptic neurons in the rat: synaptic inputs and cellular signals. Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 84:183-96. PMID 14769435

4.Leng G, Caquineau C, Sabatier N. (2005) Regulation of oxytocin secretion. Vitam Horm. 71:27-58. PMID 16112264

5.Russell JA, Leng G, Douglas AJ. (2003)The magnocellular oxytocin system, the fount of maternity: adaptations in pregnancy. Front. Neuroendocrinol. 24:27-61 PMID 12609499

6.Burbach JP, Luckman SM, Murphy D, Gainer H. (2001) Gene regulation in the magnocellular hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system. Physiol Rev. 81:1197-267 PMID 11427695

7.Theodosis DT. (2002) Oxytocin-secreting neurons: A physiological model of morphological neuronal and glial plasticity in the adult hypothalamus. Front Neuroendocrinol. 23:101-35. PMID 11906204

8.Hatton GI. (2004) Dynamic neuronal-glial interactions: an overview 20 years later. Peptides 25, 403-411 PMID 15134863

9.Tasker JG, Di S, Boudaba C. (2002) Functional synaptic plasticity in hypothalamic magnocellular neurons. Prog Brain Res. 139:113-9. PMID 12436930

10.Lincoln DW, Wakerley JB. (1974) Electrophysiological evidence for the activation of supraoptic neurones during the release of oxytocin. J Physiol. 242:533-54. PMID 4616998

11.Dutton A, Dyball REJ. (1979) Phasic firing enhances vasopressin release from the rat neurohypophysis. J Physiol. 290:433-40. PMID 469785

External links

• BrainMaps at UCDavis Supraoptic nucleus