Kainu T, Honkaniemi J, Gustafsson J A, Rechardt L, Pelto-Huikko M
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland.
Brain Res. 1993 Jul 2;615(2):245-51. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(93)90034-k.
The parabrachial nucleus (PB) is a brainstem nucleus, which mediates autonomic information from the viscera to various forebrain nuclei, e.g. to the central nucleus of the amygdala (ACe) and to the medial preoptic area (MPOA). The neurons of the PB contain several neuropeptides, of which calcitonin-gene related peptide-immunoreactive (CGRP-IR) and neurotensin (NT)-IR neurons provide input to the ACe, whereas corticotropin-releasing factor-IR (CRF) neurons project to the MPOA. The aim of the present paper was to study whether the neurons containing CGRP-, NT- and CRF-like immunoreactivities (LIs) in the PB also contain glucocorticoid receptor (GR)- and/or Fos-LIs after stress. No co-localization was observed with the GR-LI and peptide-LIs, suggesting that plasma glucocorticoids do not have direct effects on these neurons of the PB. After stress, the vast majority of the peptide-IR perikarya exhibited Fos-LI, suggesting that the peptidergic pathways from the PB to ACe and MPOA are activated in stress. The ACe and MPOA have been connected in various stress related responses, e.g. inhibiting the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis, raising the blood pressure and pulse, and increasing the secretion of glucocorticoids. Therefore, the activation of the peptidergic pathways between the PB and the ACe and MPOA suggests that some of these responses may be elicited by the peptidergic input from the PB. Furthermore, since Fos acts as a transcription factor, stress may affect the expression of the neuropeptides studied.
臂旁核（PB）是一个脑干核团，它介导来自内脏的自主神经信息传递至各种前脑核团，例如杏仁核中央核（ACe）和内侧视前区（MPOA）。PB的神经元含有多种神经肽，其中降钙素基因相关肽免疫反应性（CGRP-IR）和神经降压素（NT）-IR神经元向ACe提供输入，而促肾上腺皮质激素释放因子免疫反应性（CRF）神经元投射至MPOA。本文的目的是研究应激后PB中含有CGRP、NT和CRF样免疫反应性（LI）的神经元是否也含有糖皮质激素受体（GR）-LI和/或Fos-LI。未观察到GR-LI与肽-LI的共定位，这表明血浆糖皮质激素对PB的这些神经元没有直接影响。应激后，绝大多数肽免疫反应性胞体表现出Fos-LI，这表明从PB到ACe和MPOA的肽能通路在应激时被激活。ACe和MPOA在各种应激相关反应中存在联系，例如抑制下丘脑-垂体-性腺轴、升高血压和脉搏以及增加糖皮质激素的分泌。因此，PB与ACe和MPOA之间肽能通路的激活表明，其中一些反应可能是由PB的肽能输入引发的。此外，由于Fos作为一种转录因子，应激可能会影响所研究神经肽的表达。
