LOCALIZATION OF V1A VASOPRESSIN RECEPTOR MESSENGER-RNA EXPRESSION IN CULTURED NEURONS, ASTROGLIA, AND OLIGODENDROGLIA OF RAT CEREBRAL-CORTEX

Previous studies suggested the existence of V1a vasopressin receptors (V1aR) in the cerebral cortex. Here, we investigated the cellular and regional localization of V1aR in the E18 rat cerebral cortex using RT- PCR and Southern blot analysis of V1aR mRNA derived from enriched cult ures of neurons, astroglia, and oligodendroglia from four cortical reg ions (rostral, caudal, dorsal and ventral). V1aR mRNA was detected in each of the cell types within each of the regions studied. These data indicate that V1aR is broadly distributed throughout the cerebral cort ex and suggest that vasopressin plays an important role in cortical fu nctions.