Tyramine-immunoreactive neuronal structures in the rat brain: Abundance in the median eminence of the mediobasal hypothalamus

Immunoreactivity to p-tyramine, one of the natural trace amines, was studied in the rat brain by an anti-p-tyramine antibody. Immunoreactivity to this amine is very weak in the nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons and terminals, and weak in the locus coeruleus noradrenergic ones. It was intensified in these structures after monoamine oxidase inhibition. On the other hand, this amine was highly concentrated in the median eminence of the mediobasal hypothalamus, in which its physiological function on prolactin release has been demonstrated.