............................................................................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................ iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................ v LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................... vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................

Estrogen receptor (ER)beta is present in hypothalamic and limbic neurons of female rat brains, but little is known about its regulation under physiological conditions. To determine whether ER beta expression varies during physiological conditions in which sex steroid hormone profiles are significantly different, we used in situ hybridization to assess ER beta mRNA expression in the periventricu...

Early-life experience including maternal care profoundly influences hormonal stress responses during adulthood. Daily handling on postnatal day (P) 2-9, eliciting augmented maternal care upon returning pups to their cage, permanently modifies the expression of the stress neuromodulators corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR). We have previously demonstrated reduce...

To identify the specific hypothalamic sites in which leptin acts to decrease energy intake and/or increase energy expenditure, recombinant adeno-associated virus vector-encoding leptin was microinjected bilaterally into one of four hypothalamic sites in female rats. Leptin transgene expression in the ventromedial nucleus and paraventricular nucleus induced comparable decreases in daily food int...

When injected into specific rat brain regions, the neurotransmitter candidate L-proline produces various cardiovascular changes through ionotropic excitatory amino acid receptors. The present study used an immunohistochemical double-labeling approach to determine whether intracisternally injected L-proline in freely moving rats, which increases blood pressure, activates hypothalamic vasopressin...

A characteristic of both hypertension and pregnancy is increased sympathetic nerve activity. The level of sympathetic activation is determined, in part, by a tonic GABAergic inhibition arising from the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). In hypertension, decreases in GABAergic inhibition and increases in glutamatergic excitation within the PVN contribute to this sympatho-excitation. In ...

Neuroendocrine regulatory peptide (NERP)-3, derived from the neurosecretory protein VGF (non-aconymic), is a new biologically active peptide identified through peptidomic analysis of the peptides secreted by an endocrine cell line. Using a specific antibody recognizing the C-terminal region of NERP-3, immunoreactive (ir)-NERP-3 was identified in acid extracts of rat brain and gut as a 30-residu...

Gamma aminobutyrate (GABA) is a non-protein amino acid that is thought to play an important role in the modulation of the central response to stress. Mechanisms by which GABA may facilitate these responses to stress are metabolic and/or mechanical disruptions. Environmental stresses increase GABA accumulation through cytosolic acidification, induce an acidic pH-dependent activation of glutamate...

Williamson M, Viau V. Selective contributions of the medial preoptic nucleus to testosterone-dependant regulation of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and the HPA axis. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 295: R1020–R1030, 2008. First published August 6, 2008; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.90389.2008.—Previous data have consistently demonstrated an inhibitory effect of androgens on stres...