Ontogeny of specific prolactin binding sites in the rat choroid plexus and their temporal relation to the prolactin short-loop feedback system

The development of prolactin receptors in the choroid plexus of the rat was examined using the in vivo autoradiographic approach employing the principle of competitive binding. Animals aged 0, 10, 14, and 18 days postnatal were perfusion fixed following hormone injection and prepared for light microscopic autoradiography. The choroid plexus first demonstrated specific binding of prolactin at 14 days postnatal. The lactogen specificity of these binding sites was further defined by the ability of I125-prolactin to be displaced by unlabelled human growth hormone, which is lactogenic in rats, and not by unlabelled insulin, which is structurally dissimilar to prolactin. Morphometric analysis was performed on electron micrographs of choroid plexus from 10 and 14 day postnatal rats. The volume densities of constituents known to be involved in the synthesis and/or function of polypeptide hormone receptors were measured and differences tested for statistical significance. A semi-quantitative histo-fluorescence technique was used to evaluate the ability of prolactin to stimulate secretion of its inhibiting factor, dopamine, in 10 day postnatal rats. The present findings indicate that the ontogenesis of specific prolactin binding sites is not temporally connected with the establishment of the prolactin short-loop feedback system since activation of the system occurs prior to the establishment of specific prolactin binding at choroid plexus