Psychoneuroendocrinology. Vol. 4t pp. 75 to 78. © Pergamon Press Ltd. 1979. Printed in Great Britain.
0306-4530/79/0101-0075502.00/0
SHORT COMMUNICATION EFFECT OF PROGESTERONE ON CATECHOLAMINE CONTENT IN PARTS OF THE LIMBIC SYSTEM AND PREOPTIC AREA ANDERS LOFSTR6M Department of Histology, Karolinska Institutet, S-104 01 Stockholm 60, Sweden
(Received 27 June 1978, revised 27 September 1978)
PROGESTERONE(13) is taken up and concentrated in the brain (Whalen & Luttge, 1971; Wade, Harding & Feder, 1973; Sar & Stumpf, 1973). Alone or in combination with estrogen, P exerts a pronounced effect on estrous (Beach, 1942; Gorsky, 1976), maternal (Zarrow, Grota & Dennenberg, 1966; Molta, Leon, Numan & Lubin, 1971; Bridges, Rosenblatt & Feder, 1978) and running behavior (Wolny & Herman, 1974) and participates in the control of ovulation (Sawyer & Everett, 1959; Kalra, Kalra, Krulich, Fawcett & McCann, 1972), electroshock seizure (Spiegel & Wycis, 1945;Woolley & Timiras, 1962),epileptic discharges (Landgren, Backstrom & Kalistratov, 1978) and pain threshold (Selye, 1942). Since many of these functions are influenced by catecholamines (CA), several studies have been concerned with the effect of P on CA metabolism. Thus, no effect was seen on CA uptake (Wirz-Justice, Hackmann & Lichtsteiner, 1974) or turnover (Fuxe, Hokfelt & Nilsson, 1969), whereas CA content was increased in cerebral cortex (Tonge & Greengrass, 1971), decreased or unchanged in diencephalon (Lichtensteiger, Korpela, Langmann & Keller, 1969; Tonge & Greengrass, 1971) and decreased in whole brain homogenates (Barthwal, Gupta, Gupta & Bhargara, 1971). The present study using quantitative microfluorimetry is the first attempt to evaluate the effect of P on CA content in discrete parts of the limbic system. METHODS Female Sprague-Dawley rats, weighing 140-160 g were obtained from Anticimex, Sollentuna, Sweden. The animals were ovariectomized ( > 2 weeks before experiments), fed water and rat chow a d libimm, housed 5 to a cage, and maintained on a 14/10 hr light/dark schedule (lights on 6 a.m.-8 p.m.). P was dissolved in peanut oil O.01-0.25 ml) and injected s.c. (0.05-5.0 mg/rat) 75 hr before decapitation, which took place at 10 a.m. This time, 75 hr, was chosen since estradiol benzoate was previously shown to have effects on gonadotropin secretion and CA turnover at this interval (LSfstrSm, Eneroth, Gustafsson & Skett
1977). CA content was measured indirectly using quantitative microfluorimetry as previously described (L6fstr6m, 1977a, b). Thus, fluorescen~ intensity relative to a noradrenaline (NA) standard (It) was calculated according to a formula Ir = 100 ( t - b)/(aNA- at)), where t is the recording of total fluorescence intensity from each measurement in that section, b is the mean intensity of the background fluorescence obtained from a part of the corpus callosum in that section, aNA and a o are the mean fluoreacenc~ intensities of the NA-containing and NA-frec agar albumin standards of the same section. In total, 9-27 observations 75
76
ANDERS L6FSTR•M
calculated as lr values were obtained from various areas in each animal. The following nuclei were investigated (L6fstr6m, 1977a). NA terminals in the medial part of the nucleus preopticus medialis (MPOA) NA terminals in the nucleus interstitialis striae terminalis ventralis (NISTV) DA terminals in lamina II tuberculi olfactorii (TO) DA terminals in the dorsolateral nucleus accumbens sept± (ACC) DA terminals in 'striatal islands' in the medial part of the caudate (CAUD) RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The C A fluorescence intensities in limbic a n d h y p o t h a l a m i c areas after o v a r i e c t o m y in the present study (Table I) are c o m p a r a b l e to those previously f o u n d in the diestrous female r a t ( L 6 f s t r 6 m & B/ickstr6m, 1978). The variences were higher in M P O A t h a n in any o t h e r area investigated, b u t decreased (F3h = 25, p
0306-4530/79/0101-0075502.00/0
SHORT COMMUNICATION EFFECT OF PROGESTERONE ON CATECHOLAMINE CONTENT IN PARTS OF THE LIMBIC SYSTEM AND PREOPTIC AREA ANDERS LOFSTR6M Department of Histology, Karolinska Institutet, S-104 01 Stockholm 60, Sweden
(Received 27 June 1978, revised 27 September 1978)
PROGESTERONE(13) is taken up and concentrated in the brain (Whalen & Luttge, 1971; Wade, Harding & Feder, 1973; Sar & Stumpf, 1973). Alone or in combination with estrogen, P exerts a pronounced effect on estrous (Beach, 1942; Gorsky, 1976), maternal (Zarrow, Grota & Dennenberg, 1966; Molta, Leon, Numan & Lubin, 1971; Bridges, Rosenblatt & Feder, 1978) and running behavior (Wolny & Herman, 1974) and participates in the control of ovulation (Sawyer & Everett, 1959; Kalra, Kalra, Krulich, Fawcett & McCann, 1972), electroshock seizure (Spiegel & Wycis, 1945;Woolley & Timiras, 1962),epileptic discharges (Landgren, Backstrom & Kalistratov, 1978) and pain threshold (Selye, 1942). Since many of these functions are influenced by catecholamines (CA), several studies have been concerned with the effect of P on CA metabolism. Thus, no effect was seen on CA uptake (Wirz-Justice, Hackmann & Lichtsteiner, 1974) or turnover (Fuxe, Hokfelt & Nilsson, 1969), whereas CA content was increased in cerebral cortex (Tonge & Greengrass, 1971), decreased or unchanged in diencephalon (Lichtensteiger, Korpela, Langmann & Keller, 1969; Tonge & Greengrass, 1971) and decreased in whole brain homogenates (Barthwal, Gupta, Gupta & Bhargara, 1971). The present study using quantitative microfluorimetry is the first attempt to evaluate the effect of P on CA content in discrete parts of the limbic system. METHODS Female Sprague-Dawley rats, weighing 140-160 g were obtained from Anticimex, Sollentuna, Sweden. The animals were ovariectomized ( > 2 weeks before experiments), fed water and rat chow a d libimm, housed 5 to a cage, and maintained on a 14/10 hr light/dark schedule (lights on 6 a.m.-8 p.m.). P was dissolved in peanut oil O.01-0.25 ml) and injected s.c. (0.05-5.0 mg/rat) 75 hr before decapitation, which took place at 10 a.m. This time, 75 hr, was chosen since estradiol benzoate was previously shown to have effects on gonadotropin secretion and CA turnover at this interval (LSfstrSm, Eneroth, Gustafsson & Skett
1977). CA content was measured indirectly using quantitative microfluorimetry as previously described (L6fstr6m, 1977a, b). Thus, fluorescen~ intensity relative to a noradrenaline (NA) standard (It) was calculated according to a formula Ir = 100 ( t - b)/(aNA- at)), where t is the recording of total fluorescence intensity from each measurement in that section, b is the mean intensity of the background fluorescence obtained from a part of the corpus callosum in that section, aNA and a o are the mean fluoreacenc~ intensities of the NA-containing and NA-frec agar albumin standards of the same section. In total, 9-27 observations 75
76
ANDERS L6FSTR•M
calculated as lr values were obtained from various areas in each animal. The following nuclei were investigated (L6fstr6m, 1977a). NA terminals in the medial part of the nucleus preopticus medialis (MPOA) NA terminals in the nucleus interstitialis striae terminalis ventralis (NISTV) DA terminals in lamina II tuberculi olfactorii (TO) DA terminals in the dorsolateral nucleus accumbens sept± (ACC) DA terminals in 'striatal islands' in the medial part of the caudate (CAUD) RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The C A fluorescence intensities in limbic a n d h y p o t h a l a m i c areas after o v a r i e c t o m y in the present study (Table I) are c o m p a r a b l e to those previously f o u n d in the diestrous female r a t ( L 6 f s t r 6 m & B/ickstr6m, 1978). The variences were higher in M P O A t h a n in any o t h e r area investigated, b u t decreased (F3h = 25, p
