Impact of neonatal catecholamine treatment on adult response to vasopressin and norepinephrine.

The present experiments have shown that neonatal imprinting with certain catecholamines had a significant impact on adult vascular adrenergic response, and on adult response to vasopressin as well. This finding not only substantiates the existence of a hormonal imprinting mechanism, but also suggests a certain (receptor-level) interaction between the vasopressin and catecholamine receptors involved in vascular contraction.