Gulya K, Dave J R, Hoffman P L
Division of Intramural Clincal and Biological Research, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rockville, MD 20852.
Brain Res. 1991 Aug 23;557(1-2):129-35.
Endogenous arginine vasopressin was previously shown to modulate the rate of loss of functional (CNS) tolerance to ethanol, suggesting that chronic ethanol ingestion might alter vasopressin synthesis and/or release. Since extrahypothalamic vasopressin is believed to be involved in the CNS effects of the peptide, we determined the effect of ethanol on vasopressin mRNA in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), as well as in several hypothalamic nuclei. Chronic ethanol ingestion, that produced functional tolerance and physical dependence in mice, resulted in decreased vasopressin mRNA levels in all areas examined. In contrast, as expected, dehydration resulted in increases in vasopressin mRNA in the BST and in all hypothalamic nuclei except the suprachiasmatic nucleus. In the BST, both ethanol ingestion and dehydration affected cells in the central region of the nucleus, while cells in the caudal portion were only affected by ethanol treatment. The results indicate that chronic ethanol ingestion generally reduces the synthesis of vasopressin, and that increased vasopressin synthesis is not necessary in order for the peptide to affect ethanol tolerance.
内源性精氨酸加压素先前已被证明可调节对乙醇的功能性（中枢神经系统）耐受性的丧失速率，这表明长期摄入乙醇可能会改变加压素的合成和/或释放。由于下丘脑外加压素被认为与该肽的中枢神经系统作用有关，我们确定了乙醇对终纹床核（BST）以及几个下丘脑核中加压素mRNA的影响。在小鼠中产生功能性耐受性和身体依赖性的长期乙醇摄入，导致在所检查的所有区域中加压素mRNA水平降低。相比之下，正如预期的那样，脱水导致BST以及除视交叉上核之外的所有下丘脑核中加压素mRNA增加。在BST中，乙醇摄入和脱水均影响核中央区域的细胞，而尾部的细胞仅受乙醇处理的影响。结果表明，长期乙醇摄入通常会减少加压素的合成，并且该肽影响乙醇耐受性并不一定需要增加加压素的合成。
