Neurohypophysial peptides in the human fetus: presence in pituitary extracts of immunoreactive arginine-vasotocin

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Abstract
A specific and sensitive radioimmunoassay was used to demonstrate the presence of arginine-vasotocin (AVT) in human fetal pituitary extracts. The mean pituitary contents of AVT in extracts of 70–101, 102–136 and 137–172 days gestation were 0·32, 0·8 and 8·1 ng/gland respectively. Combined high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and radioimmunoassay of pooled extracts at these gestational ages confirmed the presence of AVT. Radioimmunoassay of neonatal pituitary extracts (240–280 days) did not conclusively show AVT to be present, as the material assayed did not show parallelism with dilution. However, combined HPLC and radioimmunoassay of pooled extracts at this gestational age did demonstrate the presence of an immunoreactive AVT peak. Radioimmunoassay analysis of this peak indicated that a relatively small amount of AVT (at least 0·5 ng/gland) was present in the human pituitary gland at term.