Central peptidergic neurons are hyperactive during collateral sprouting and inhibition of activity suppresses sprouting.
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Little is known regarding the effect of chronic changes in neuronal activity on the extent of collateral sprouting by identified CNS neurons. We have investigated the relationship between activity and sprouting in oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (VP) neurons of the hypothalamic magnocellular neurosecretory system (MNS). Uninjured MNS neurons undergo a robust collateral-sprouting response that restores the axon population of the neural lobe (NL) after a lesion of the contralateral MNS (). Simultaneously, lesioned rats develop chronic urinary hyperosmolality indicative of heightened neurosecretory activity. We therefore tested the hypothesis that sprouting MNS neurons are hyperactive by measuring changes in cell and nuclear diameters, OT and VP mRNA pools, and axonal cytochrome oxidase activity (COX). Each of these measures was significantly elevated during the period of most rapid axonal growth between 1 and 4 weeks after the lesion, confirming that both OT and VP neurons are hyperactive while undergoing collateral sprouting. In a second study the hypothesis that chronic inhibition of neuronal activity would interfere with the sprouting response was tested. Chronic hyponatremia (CH) was induced 3 d before the hypothalamic lesion and sustained for 4 weeks to suppress neurosecretory activity. CH abolished the lesion-induced increases in OT and VP mRNA pools and virtually eliminated measurable COX activity in MNS terminals. Counts of the total number of axon profiles in the NL revealed that CH also prevented axonal sprouting from occurring. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that increased neuronal activity is required for denervation-induced collateral sprouting to occur in the MNS. (+info)
On the meaning of low-dose ACTH(1-24) tests to assess functionality of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
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To analyse further the ACTH(1-24) low-dose test, which is of clinical interest, we have examined the dose-response relationship between plasma ACTH(1-24) and cortisol concentrations after i.v. administration of increasing doses (1, 5 or 250 microg) of ACTH(1-24) as a bolus. In addition, we have measured plasma ACTH(1-39) and cortisol levels after an insulin tolerance test (ITT). Although there was a dose response relationship between plasma ACTH(1-24) immunoreactivity and the dose injected, cortisol peaks were comparable, but lower than those reached after an ITT. Under these experimental conditions, an increase in plasma ACTH as low as 13 pmol/l (i.e. the increase obtained with the 1 microg dose) induced a near maximal cortisol response. Following injection of 1 microg ACTH(1-24), peak ACTH values were short lasting, similar to physiological daily bursts. After injection of 5 microg ACTH(1-24), plasma ACTH concentrations were higher than those reached during an ITT, but clearly shorter lasting. Injection of 250 microg ACTH(1-24) induced strikingly supraphysiological levels of plasma ACTH. We conclude that neither regular nor low-dose ACTH tests can fully reproduce the ITT. Our observations strongly suggest that the low-dose ACTH(1-24) test (1 microg) can be useful to estimate the adrenal sensitivity under basal, physiological conditions. (+info)
Relationships between environmental organochlorine contaminant residues, plasma corticosterone concentrations, and intermediary metabolic enzyme activities in Great Lakes herring gull embryos.
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Experiments were conducted to survey and detect differences in plasma corticosterone concentrations and intermediary metabolic enzyme activities in herring gull (Larus argentatus) embryos environmentally exposed to organochlorine contaminants in ovo. Unincubated fertile herring gull eggs were collected from an Atlantic coast control site and various Great Lakes sites in 1997 and artificially incubated in the laboratory. Liver and/or kidney tissues from approximately half of the late-stage embryos were analyzed for the activities of various intermediary metabolic enzymes known to be regulated, at least in part, by corticosteroids. Basal plasma corticosterone concentrations were determined for the remaining embryos. Yolk sacs were collected from each embryo and a subset was analyzed for organochlorine contaminants. Regression analysis of individual yolk sac organochlorine residue concentrations, or 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin equivalents (TEQs), with individual basal plasma corticosterone concentrations indicated statistically significant inverse relationships for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDDs/PCDFs), total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), non-ortho PCBs, and TEQs. Similarly, inverse relationships were observed for the activities of two intermediary metabolic enzymes (phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and malic enzyme) when regressed against PCDDs/PCDFs. Overall, these data suggest that current levels of organochlorine contamination may be affecting the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis and associated intermediary metabolic pathways in environmentally exposed herring gull embryos in the Great Lakes. (+info)
Interactions between the neuropeptide Y system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
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The aim of this paper is to review the present knowledge of interactions between the neuropeptide Y (NPY) system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. On the basis of in vitro and in vivo studies of various animal species, we review the effects of NPY on all levels of HPA axis activity. We also describe the effects of glucocorticosteroids on the NPY system in the hypothalamus, including interactions between glucocorticosteroids and insulin. On the basis of available literature, we discuss the role of these interactions in the control of food intake and in the pathogenesis of obesity. (+info)
Central administration of rat IL-6 induces HPA activation and fever but not sickness behavior in rats.
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Interleukin (IL)-6 has been proposed to mediate several sickness responses, including brain-mediated neuroendocrine, temperature, and behavioral changes. However, the exact mechanisms and sites of action of IL-6 are still poorly understood. In the present study, we describe the effects of central administration of species-homologous recombinant rat IL-6 (rrIL-6) on the induction of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity, fever, social investigatory behavior, and immobility. After intracerebroventricular administration of rrIL-6 (50 or 100 ng/rat), rats demonstrated HPA and febrile responses. In contrast, rrIL-6 alone did not induce changes in social investigatory and locomotor behavior at doses of up to 400 ng/rat. Coadministration of rrIL-6 (100 ng/rat) and rrIL-1beta (40 ng/rat), which alone did not affect the behavioral responses, reduced social investigatory behavior and increased the duration of immobility. Compared with rhIL-6, intracerebroventricular administration of rrIL-6 (100 ng/rat) induced higher HPA responses and early-phase febrile responses. This is consistent with a higher potency of rrIL-6, compared with rhIL-6, in the murine B9 bioassay. We conclude that species-homologous rrIL-6 alone can act in the brain to induce HPA and febrile responses, whereas it only reduces social investigatory behavior and locomotor activity in the presence of IL-1beta. (+info)
Evaluation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in amenorrhoeic women with insulin-dependent diabetes.
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Diabetes is associated with a higher incidence of secondary hypogonadotrophic amenorrhoea. In amenorrhoeic women with insulin-dependent diabetes a derangement in hypothalamic-pituitary-ovary axis has been proposed. No data exist on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function in these women. Gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH), corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH), metoclopramide and thyroid releasing hormone (TRH) tests were performed in 15 diabetic women, eight amenorrhoeic (AD) and seven eumenorrhoeic (ED). Frequent blood samples were taken during 24 h to evaluate cortisol plasma concentrations. There were no differences between the groups in body mass index, duration of diabetes, insulin dose and metabolic control. The AD women had lower plasma concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), prolactin, oestradiol, androstenedione and 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) than the ED women. The responses of pituitary gonadotrophins to GnRH, and of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) to TRH, were similar in both groups. The AD women had a lower prolactin response to TRH and metoclopramide, and lower ACTH and cortisol responses to CRH, than the ED women. Mean cortisol concentrations > 24 h were higher in the amenorrhoeic group. Significant differences in cortisol concentrations from 2400 to 1000 h were found between the two groups. Insulin-dependent diabetes may involve mild chronic hypercortisolism which may affect metabolic control. Stress-induced activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis would increase hypothalamic secretion of CRH. This would lead directly and perhaps also indirectly by increasing dopaminergic tonus to inhibition of GnRH secretion and hence hypogonadotrophic amenorrhoea. Amenorrhoea associated with metabolically controlled insulin-dependent diabetes is a form of functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea that requires pharmacological and psychological management. (+info)
Cyto-differentiation and portal vascular development in the mouse adenohypophysis.
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Pituitaries of fetal and postnatal (15 days p.c.-28 days p.n.) and adult (male) mice were studied by light and electron microscopy to correlate the developmental pattern of the hypothalamo-hypophysial vascular system with the time of onset of function of the adenohypophysis. The superior and anterior regions of the adenohypophysis become vascularized at 17 days p.c., when portal vessels extend from oral primary plexus to the pars distalis for the first time. Adenohypophysial vascularity and the number of portal vessels steadily increase to reach the adult pattern at 5 days p.n. At 1 day p.n. deep capillary loops appear in the caudal regions of the oral primary plexus; a capillary (tangential) plexus underlies the ependymal lining of the third ventricle by 6 days p.n. Superficial capillary loops were not observed until the third postnatal week. Granulation of secretory cells commences at 16 days p.c., predominantly in the upper and anterior adenohypophysis; at 17 days thyrotropes, gonadotropes and corticotropes are recognizable and by morphological criteria appear actively secretory on days 17-18 p.c., although few appear active at 19 days p.c. and 1 day p.n. Somatotropes are first seen at 18 days p.c., predominantly in the central and lateral regions of the pars distalis. Active secretory cells increase in number over the period 2-10 days p.n., but after 11 days p.n. thyrotropes and corticotropes seem to become progressively less active; fewer gonadotropes are seen after 15 days p.n., and these apparently become progressively less active from day 19. Most somatotropes appear active until 28 days p.n. The observations suggest that hypothalamic control of adenohypophysial function may exist in the mouse from 17 days p.c. (+info)
Reactivation of tuberculosis is associated with a shift from type 1 to type 2 cytokines.
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The pattern of cytokines produced by T cells from mice with latent tuberculosis and during reactivation of tuberculosis was determined. A type 1 cytokine pattern was observed in T cells isolated from the lung of mice with latent disease. Reactivation of mycobacterial growth, by activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, resulted in a shift from a type 1 to a type 2 cytokine pattern in both CD4 and CD8 T cells. Classification of the T cells based on their differential expression of CD45 and CD44 showed that the phenotypically different populations of CD4 and CD8 cells exhibited a type 1 cytokine pattern at latency and that reactivation of latent tuberculosis was associated with a shift in cytokines produced by these populations to a type 2 cytokine response. Control of mycobacterial growth resulted in a return to the type 1 cytokine pattern found during latent disease. (+info)