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Abstract
The homozygous Brattleboro rat (di/di) synthesizes a vasopressin (VP) precursor with
an aberrant C-terminus, which causes a hypothalamic form of diabetes insipidus. The
neuroendocrine polypeptide 7B2 is present in VP and oxytocin (OT) neurons of the supraoptic
and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus in wild type rats. However, in the
di/di rat 7B2 immunoreactivity is absent in the VP cell population, whereas 7B2 levels
within the OT cells are unaffected. Remarkably, there is no obvious difference in
7B2 transcript levels between VP and OT neurons in the di/di rat hypothalamus. This
study shows that the presence of mRNA does not automatically result in the subsequent
synthesis of its protein. Cellular mechanisms underlying this discrepancy are discussed.