Emotional stress and characteristics of brain noradrenaline release in the rat

Abstract

We have investigated several characteristics of the rat brain noradrenaline (NA) release caused by various stressful situations. Stresses such as immobilization or electric foot shock, wherein the physical factors rather than emotional ones were greatly involved, caused more marked increases in NA release in the more extended brain regions, as compared to psychological stress and conditioned fear, which caused increases in NA release preferentially in the hypothalamus, amygdala and locus coeruleus (LC) region. When the electric shock stress and psychological stress for 1 hr daily were repeated for 5 consecutive days, increases in brain NA release induced by electric shock were rapidly reduced, but those caused by psychological stress were enhanced rather than reduced. Rats with no stressor controllability (uncontrollable) had more severe gastric lesions and more marked increases in NA release in such brain regions as the hypothalamus and amygdala after 21 hrs of training than controllable rats. Rats with no opportunity to predict electric shock exhibited more severe gastric lesions and more marked increases in hypothalamic NA release than the predictable rats. The rats not allowed to express their aggression had more severe gastric mucosal lesions and a more noticeable and persistent increases in extracellular NA content in the amygdala determined by intracerebral microdialysis than the rats allowed to express aggression by biting a wooden stick in front of them during stress exposure. In aged rats (12 months old), recovery from increases in NA release in the hypothalamus and amygdala and increases in plasma corticosterone were much later than in young (2-month- old) rats. When rats were exposed to a series of six 15-min stress interrupted by 18-min non-stress periods for 180 min, they had much greater increases in brain NA release than rats stressed continuously for 180 min. Based upon these findings, we suggest that such stresses might be harmful to our health as psychological, uncontrollable and unpredictable stresses, stress unable to express aggression, stress in elderly people, and stress with lack of suitable rest.