A new angiotensinergic system in the CNS of the rat

The use of two different polyclonal, affinity-purified, monospecific antibo dies to ANG II (called BODE and BODE 1) revealed dissimilar distribution of ANG II immunoreactivity within the rat central nervous system (CNS). The A NG II-like material detected using BODE was concentrated in the neurosecret ory hypothalamic nuclei, in the inner layer of the median eminence and in t he posterior lobe of the pituitary. In contrast, the BODE 1 antibody did no t stain the hypothalamic-neurohypophysial angiotensinergic system, and the staining pattern was much more broadly distributed throughout the CNS. BODE 1 is the first antibody that can be used to verify the locations of endoge nous angiotensin and their receptor sites in the CNS. The diverse distribut ion of the ANG II-like material detected by the two antibodies provides str ong evidence for the existence of at least two different angiotensinergic s ystems in the CNS. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.