Elevated corticosterone in the dorsal hindbrain increases plasma norepinephrine and neuropeptide Y, and recruits a vasopressin response to stress

Repeated stress and chronically elevated glucocorticoids cause exaggerated cardiovascular responses to novel stress, elevations in baseline blood pressure, and increased risk for cardiovascular disease. We hypothesized that elevated corticosterone (Cort) within the dorsal hindbrain (DHB) would: 1) enhance arterial pressure and neuroendocrine responses to novel and repeated restraint stress, 2) increase c-Fos expression in regions of the brain involved in sympathetic stimulation during stress, and 3) recruit a vasopressin-mediated blood pressure response to acute stress. Small pellets made of 10% Cort were implanted on the surface of the DHB in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Blood pressure was measured by radiotelemetry. Cort concentration was increased in the DHB in Cort-treated compared with Sham-treated rats (60 ± 15 vs. 14 ± 2 ng Cort/g of tissue, P < 0.05). DHB Cort significantly increased the integrated arterial pressure response to 60 min of restraint stress on days 6, 13, and 14 following pellet implantation (e.g., 731 ± 170 vs. 1,204 ± 68 mmHg/60 min in Sham- vs. Cort-treated rats, day 6, P < 0.05). Cort also increased baseline blood pressure by day 15 (99 ± 2 vs. 108 ± 3 mmHg for Sham- vs. Cort-treated rats, P < 0.05) and elevated baseline plasma norepinephrine and neuropeptide Y concentrations. Cort significantly enhanced stress-induced c-Fos expression in vasopressin-expressing neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, and blockade of peripheral vasopressin V1 receptors attenuated the effect of DHB Cort to enhance the blood pressure response to restraint. These data indicate that glucocorticoids act within the DHB to produce some of the adverse cardiovascular consequences of chronic stress, in part, by a peripheral vasopressin-dependent mechanism.