The Ventral Ascending Noradrenergic Bundles Are Involved in the Stress Response to Immobilization in Rats

Toshihiro Yoshihara^*, Yasutaka Yawaka

Division of Pediatric Dentistry, Department of Oral Functional Science, Graduate School of Dental Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.

DOI: 10.4236/jbbs.2015.53008                

Abstract

Stressful stimuli induced by immobilization are perceived as acute stress in rats. This acute stress activates corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN), resulting in stimulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The ventral ascending noradrenergic bundles (V-NAB) from the brainstem innervate the PVN. To investigate the relationship between the response of the HPA axis and the V-NAB, we examined changes in plasma corticosterone, the final output of the HPA axis, and extracellular noradrenaline (NA) in the PVN following immobilization stress in rats that received bilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesions of the V-NAB. 6-OHDA microinjection into the V-NAB reduced the magnitude of the responses of plasma corticosterone and extracellular NA in the PVN following immobilization stress. Our results suggest that V-NAB innervation of the PVN is involved in immobilization stress-induced activation of the HPA axis.

Keywords

Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis, Immobilization Stress, 6-Hydroxydopamine, Ventral Ascending Bundles of Noradrenergic Neurons, Rat

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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