Molecular Mechanisms Involved in the Control of Neurohypophyseal Hormones Secretion

The regulation of neurohypophyseal peptides secretion reflects the convergence of a large number of afferent neural pathways on vasopressinergic and oxytocinergic neurons of supraoptic (SON) and paraventricular nuclei (PVN). In addition to afferent input, vasopressin and oxytocin can also exert an autocrine regulation of neuronal activity. In fact, magnocellular neurons (MCNs) of SON and PVN are able to secrete these hormones not only at the endings of their terminal axons, but also from their dendrites and this local release, by activating a range of ion gated, ion channel and G protein coupled receptors, participate in pre- and post-synaptic modulation of neural activity of MCNs. In this review we analyzed the molecular mechanisms involved in the control of neurohypophyseal hormones secretion and related possible pharmacological targets.