Year: 2017
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: We investigated the regulatory role of the amygdala upon the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis as measured by median eminence corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH) content and serum levels of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and corticosterone. Our findings showed that (1) lesions of the central amygdala inhibited the HPA axis responses to a variety of stressful stimuli. (2) Depletion of norepinephrine or serotonin in the amygdala and hypothalamus and local injections of norepinephrine and serotonin receptor antagonists into the central amygdala inhibited the HPA axis responses to neural stress. Norepinephrine and serotonin agonists injected into the amygdala caused an increase in HPA axis activity. The activation of the amygdala facilitated the in vivo release of serotonin from the paraventricular nucleus following electrical stimulation of the brainstem raphe nuclei. (3) Electrical stimulation of the amygdala impaired the glucocorticoid negative feedback action following neural stressful stimuli probably via a decrease in hippocampal corticosteroid receptors.
Source: InTech eBooks
DOI: 10.5772/67828
Authors: Joseph Weidenfeld, Haim Ovadia
Language: English
Subfield: Behavioral Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W2727073559