Leret M L, González M I, Arahuetes R M
Departamento de Biología Animal II, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
Life Sci. 1993;52(20):1609-15. doi: 10.1016/0024-3205(93)90041-z.
Previous studies performed in our laboratory showed the importance of the effects that the absence of maternal adrenal hormones have on fetal brain. In the present study we investigated the effect of adrenal deprivation during gestation on the fetal catecholamines development in several cerebral areas. Fetuses from both control and adrenalectomized mothers from the first day of gestation were removed on the 20th embryonary day. Plasma corticosterone levels were significantly lower in the maternal serum of adrenalectomized rats, while the contents were non significantly higher in the adrenalectomized-mothers group of fetuses. Catecholamine contents in diencephalon, metencephalon, mesencephalon and telencephalon were measured by HPLC-ED. The results obtained showed that when the development of the catecholaminergic systems was previous enough to the fetal adrenal function, and under maternal adrenal deprivation conditions, the lack of corticosterone promotes an increase in the level of the catecholamines, as observed in the diencephalic NA, the earlier in maturational process. In those areas where the maturation starts at the same time than the fetal adrenal hypersecretion, no changes were observed. In the cortex, where both DA and NA develop later, the corticosterone produces an inhibition in the proliferation of the catecholaminergic neurons, showing decreased telencephalic levels of both catecholamines.
我们实验室之前进行的研究表明，母体肾上腺激素缺乏对胎儿大脑产生的影响具有重要意义。在本研究中，我们调查了孕期肾上腺功能缺失对几个脑区胎儿儿茶酚胺发育的影响。从妊娠第一天起，将对照组和肾上腺切除组母亲的胎儿在胚胎第20天取出。肾上腺切除大鼠母体血清中的血浆皮质酮水平显著降低，而肾上腺切除组母亲的胎儿组中其含量虽有所升高但无显著差异。采用高效液相色谱电化学检测法（HPLC-ED）测量间脑、后脑、中脑和端脑中的儿茶酚胺含量。所得结果表明，当儿茶酚胺能系统的发育足够早于胎儿肾上腺功能时，在母体肾上腺功能缺失的情况下，皮质酮的缺乏会促进儿茶酚胺水平升高，如在间脑去甲肾上腺素（NA）中观察到的那样，这在成熟过程中更早出现。在那些与胎儿肾上腺功能亢进同时开始成熟的区域，未观察到变化。在皮质中，多巴胺（DA）和去甲肾上腺素（NA）发育较晚，皮质酮会抑制儿茶酚胺能神经元的增殖，导致端脑中两种儿茶酚胺水平降低。
