Pseudopregnancy after Monoamine Depletion in the Median Eminence of the Rat

Pseudopregnancy can be induced by a number of drugs (see Meites et al., 1963), among which brain catecholamine depletors as reserpine or or-methyl-dopa (Ratner et al., 1965; Coppola et al., 1965). This led to the assumption that brain catecholamines might be obligatory for the synthesis or release of the hypothalamic prolactin-inhibiting factor (PIF) (Coppola et al., 1965). In fact, in the ventral portion of the hypothalamus a high content of catecholamines could be demonstrated by Carlsson et al. (1962) and Fuxe (1964) by means of a histochemical fluorescence technique.