EFFECT OF LESIONS IN DIFFERENT HYPOTHALAMIC AREAS ON LEG-BREAK INDUCED PLASMA CORTICOSTERONE CHANGES IN CONSCIOUS RATS / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Present work was undertaken to investigate the effect of destruction of different non-mediobasal hypothalamic areas on the traumatic stress responses in 64 Sprague-Dawley rats.Leg break was used as a stressor.The plasma corticosterone levels before (Bo) and 20' after the legbreak (Bs) were determined using competitive protein binding assay.The values of Bs/Bo and Bs-Bo were taken as indicators for the magnitude of the stress responses.The animals were divided into 6 groups according to injured brain areas: sham operated group, PVH injured group, PVH partially injured group, PVH minimally injured group, anterior hypothalamic-preoptic area injured group, posterior hypothalamic area injured group.Having compared statistically all Bs/Bo and Bs-Bo values of 6 groups, and on the basis of the fact that in the 4 cases of complete bilateral PVH destruction the stress response could not be entirely abolished, we conclude. (1) In traumatic stress response of conscious animals, PVH plays an important role as compared with other non-mediobasal hypothalamic areas. (2) Some CRF-containing neurons outside the PVH may also participate in the above-mentioned stress response.