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Title: Effects of stress, circadian rhythms, and dietary sodium on brain cell-nuclear uptake of aldosterone and corticosterone

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6712907

The binding of the adrenal steroid hormones aldosterone (ALD) and corticosterone (CORT) in brain cell-nuclei has been implicated as a necessary step in the behavioral and physiological actions of these hormones. In vivo uptake of radioactively labeled ALD and CORT in adrenalectomized (ADX) rats indicates a strong cell-nuclear localization of both of these hormones in limbic brain regions (such as hippocampus, septum and amygdala). Research using sub-cellular fractionation and radioimmunoassay (RIA), has confirmed both the presence of endogenously secreted CORT in cell-nuclei and its limbic localization in the brains of adrenal-intact rats. In this study, environmental and dietary factors were manipulated to induce variation in serum ALD and CORT. A series of experiments employing sub-cellular fractionation and RIA were performed, which reveal that: (1) endogenously secreted ALD and CORT, are concentrated by cell-nuclei of the brain in adrenal-intact rats, (2) the majority of the corticosteroids measured in ethanol extracts of brain cell-nuclei are associated with receptor molecules, and (3) the regional distribution of endogenously secreted ALD differs markedly from the predominantly limbic pattern predicted from in vivo uptake of labeled ALD in ADX rats. Instead, brain cell-nuclear ALD is heavily concentrated in the hypothalamus, which supports the hypothesized relationship between the interaction of ALD and angiotensin in the brain and the behavioral regulation of fluid/electrolyte balance.

Research Organization:
Illinois Univ., Urbana (USA)
OSTI ID:
6712907
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English