Subfornical organ disconnection alters Fos expression in the lamina terminalis, supraoptic nucleus, and area postrema after intragastric hypertonic NaCl

2005 ◽  
Vol 288 (4) ◽  
pp. R947-R955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia A. Freece ◽  
Julie E. Van Bebber ◽  
Dannielle K. Zierath ◽  
Douglas A. Fitts

The lamina terminalis was severed by a horizontal knife cut through the anterior commissure to determine the effects of a disconnection of the subfornical organ (SFO) on drinking and Fos-like immunoreactivity (Fos-ir) in the rat brain in response to an intragastric load of hypertonic saline (5 ml/kg of 1.5 M NaCl by gavage). After an initial load, knife-cut rats drank significantly less water than sham-cut rats, thus confirming a role for the SFO in osmotic drinking. After a second load at least 1 wk later, the rats were not allowed to drink after the gavage and were perfused for analysis of Fos-ir at 90 min. Compared with sham-cut rats, the knife-cut rats displayed significantly elevated Fos-ir in the main body of the SFO, in the dorsal cap of the organum vasculosum laminae terminalis, and in the ventral median preoptic nucleus after the hypertonic load. The knife cut significantly decreased Fos-ir in the supraoptic nucleus. Fos-ir was expressed mainly in the midcoronal and caudal parts of the area postrema of sham-cut rats, and this expression was greatly reduced in knife-cut rats. These findings strengthen the case for the presence of independently functioning osmoreceptors within the SFO and suggest that the structures of the lamina terminalis provide mutual inhibition during hypernatremia. They also demonstrate that the Fos-ir in the area postrema after intragastric osmotic loading is heavily dependent on the intact connectivity of the SFO.

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 1035-1045 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ciriello ◽  
Michael B. Gutman

The functional projections from pressor sites in the subfornical organ (SFO) were identified using the 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) autoradiographic method in urethane-anesthetized, sinoaortic-denervated rats. Autoradiographs of brain and spinal cord sections taken from rats whose SFO was continuously stimulated electrically for 45 min with stereotaxically placed monopolar electrodes (150 μA, 1.5-ms pulse duration, 15 Hz) following injection of tritiated 2-DG were compared with control rats that received intravenous infusions of pressor doses of phenylephrine to mimic the increase in arterial pressure observed during SFO stimulation. Comparisons were also made to autoradiographs from rats in which the ventral fornical commissure (CFV), just dorsal to the SFO, was electrically stimulated. The pressor responses during either electrical stimulation of the SFO or intravenous infusion of phenylephrine were similar in magnitude. On the other hand, stimulation of the CFV did not elicit a significant pressor response. Electrical stimulation of the SFO increased 2-DG uptake, in comparison to the phenylephrine-infused rats, in the nucleus triangularis, septofimbrial nucleus, lateral septal nucleus, nucleus accumbens, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, dorsal and ventral nucleus medianus (median preoptic nucleus), paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus, hippocampus, supraoptic nucleus, suprachiasmatic nucleus, paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, and the intermediolateral nucleus of and central autonomic area of the thoracic spinal cord. In contrast, in rats whose CFV was stimulated, these nuclei did not demonstrate changes in 2-DG uptake compared with control animals that received pressor doses of phenylephrine. These data have demonstrated some of the components of the neural circuitry likely involved in mediating the pressor responses to stimulation of the SFO and the corrective responses to activation of the SFO by disturbances to circulatory and fluid balance homeostasis.Key words: cardiovascular reflex pathways, drinking, median preoptic nucleus, osmoreceptors, paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, supraoptic nucleus.


2007 ◽  
Vol 292 (5) ◽  
pp. R1907-R1915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miloslav Kolaj ◽  
Leo P. Renaud

The median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) in the lamina terminalis receives a prominent catecholaminergic innervation from the dorsomedial and ventrolateral medulla. The present investigation used whole cell patch-clamp recordings in rat brain slice preparations to evaluate the hypothesis that presynaptic adrenoceptors could modulate GABAergic inputs to MnPO neurons. Bath applications of norepinephrine (NE; 20–50 μM) induced a prolonged and reversible suppression of inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) and reduced paired-pulse depression evoked by stimulation in the subfornical organ and organum vasculosum lamina terminalis. These events were not correlated with any observed changes in membrane conductance arising from NE activity at postsynaptic α1- or α2-adrenoceptors. Consistent with a role for presynaptic α2-adrenoceptors, responses were selectively mimicked by an α2-adrenoceptor agonist (UK-14304) and blockable with an α2-adrenoceptor antagonist (idazoxan). Although the α1-adrenoceptor agonist cirazoline and the α1-adrenoceptor antagonist prazosin were without effect on these evoked IPSCs, NE was noted to increase (via α1-adrenoceptors) or decrease (via α2-adrenoceptors) the frequency of spontaneous and tetrodotoxin-resistant miniature IPSCs. Collectively, these observations imply that both presynaptic and postsynaptic α1- and α2-adrenoceptors in MnPO are capable of selective modulation of rapid GABAA receptor-mediated inhibitory synaptic transmission along the lamina terminalis and therefore likely to exert a prominent influence in regulating cell excitability within the MnPO.


2004 ◽  
Vol 286 (5) ◽  
pp. H1665-H1671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junhui Tan ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Frans H. H. Leenen

In the brain, ouabain-like compounds (OLC) and the reninangiotensin system (RAS) contribute to sympathetic hyperactivity in rats after myocardial infarction (MI). This study aimed to evaluate changes in components of the central vs. the peripheral RAS. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and angiotensin type 1 (AT1) receptor binding densities were determined by measuring 125I-labeled 351A and 125I-labeled ANG II binding 4 and 8 wk after MI. In the brain, ACE and AT1 receptor binding increased 8–15% in the subfornical organ, 14–22% in the organum vasculosum laminae terminalis, 20–34% in the paraventricular nucleus, and 13–15% in the median preoptic nucleus. In the heart, the greatest increase in ACE and AT1 receptor binding occurred at the infarct scar (∼10-fold) and the least in the right ventricle (2-fold). In kidneys, ACE and AT1 receptor binding decreased 10–15%. After intracerebroventricular infusion of Fab fragments to block brain OLC from 0.5 to 4 wk after MI, increases in ACE and AT1 receptors in the subfornical organ, organum vasculosum laminae terminalis, paraventricular nucleus, and medial preoptic nucleus were markedly inhibited, and ACE and AT1 receptor densities in the heart increased less (6-fold in the infarct scar). In kidneys, decreases in ACE and AT1 receptor binding were absent after treatment with Fab fragments. These results demonstrate that ACE and AT1 receptor binding densities increase not only in the heart but also in relevant areas of the brain of rats after MI. Brain OLC appears to play a major role in activation of brain RAS in rats after MI and, to a modest degree, in activation of the cardiac RAS.


1988 ◽  
Vol 255 (3) ◽  
pp. H646-H650 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Gutkind ◽  
M. Kurihara ◽  
J. M. Saavedra

We analyzed angiotensin II (ANG II) receptors by in vitro autoradiography in selective brain nuclei of control, salt-treated (1% NaCl in drinking water), deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-treated (DOCA pivalate, 25 mg/kg sc weekly), and DOCA-salt-treated (DOCA + salt treatments) uninephrectomized male Wistar-Kyoto rats. After 4 wk of treatment, only the DOCA-salt group developed hypertension. ANG II binding increased in median preoptic nucleus and subfornical organ of salt- and DOCA-treated rats. DOCA-treated rats also showed increased ANG II binding in paraventricular nucleus. DOCA-salt-treated rats showed higher ANG II binding in nucleus of the solitary tract and area postrema, as well as in the areas mentioned before. Although salt and/or DOCA treatments alone increased ANG II receptors in some brain nuclei, after combined DOCA-salt treatment there was significantly higher ANG II binding in all areas, except the median preoptic nucleus. These results suggest that increased ANG II receptors in selected brain areas may play a role in the pathophysiology of mineralocorticoid-salt experimental hypertension.


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 450-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. P. Patel ◽  
J. D. Peuler ◽  
D. A. Morgan ◽  
B. J. Pardini ◽  
D. D. Lund ◽  
...  

Lesions in forebrain areas richly innervated by noradrenergic terminals and involved in cardiovascular function reduce or prevent hypertension in the Dahl salt-sensitive (S) rats fed a high (H) salt diet. This led us to examine two questions. (1) Is the noradrenergic activity altered in discrete forebrain and brainstem areas of SH rats? (2) Are these changes in noradrenergic activity eliminated by sinoaortic denervation (SAD)? Studies were done in 10-week-old female SH and Dahl salt-resistant (RH) rats. Half of the rats in each group had SAD surgery 1 week prior to study. An index of norepinephrine (NE) turnover was determined by measuring the decline in tissue NE concentration 8 h after administering α-methyl-p-tyrosine, a NE synthesis blocker, to animals from each of four groups: sham-RH, SAD-RH, sham-SH, and SAD-SH (n = 18–20 per group). Various discrete brain areas were obtained using the "punch technique." In SH rats the index of NE turnover was increased in the median preoptic nucleus and decreased in the paraventricular nucleus compared with RH rats regardless of SAD. In contrast, in SH rats the index of NE turnover was increased in the supraoptic nucleus and locus ceruleus compared with RH rats; however, SAD-RH had greater turnover of NE at these sites than SAD-SH. In summary, changes in noradrenergic activity in the median preoptic nucleus and the paraventricular nucleus may be related to genetic predisposition to hypertension in SH rats. In contrast, changes in the locus ceruleus and the supraoptic nucleus of SH rats may be related to impaired baroreflexes and thereby contribute to hypertension.Key words: hypertension, brain nuclei, norepinephrine, turnover.


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