title: The effects of postnatal handling on the development of the glucocorticoid receptor systems and stress recovery in the rat.
abstract: We have examined the effects of postnatal handling of rat pups from Days 1 to 21 on the development of the intracellular, glucocorticoid receptor in the hippocampus, and pituitary transcortin, and corticoid binding globulin in plasma. All animals were sacrificed 10-14h following adrenalectomy and the in vitro receptor assays were performed using 3H dexamethasone (intracellular receptors) or [3H] corticosterone (transcortin and corticoid binding globulin). Early handling resulted in a 30-40% increase in 3H dexamethasone binding (increase in Bmax with no change in Kd) in the hippocampus. In the pituitary handling was associated with a decrease in transcortin binding. There was no effect on plasma corticoid binding globulin. When tested as adults, nonhandled animals hypersecreted corticosterone following the termination of a stressor. This suggests a more efficient adrenocortical negative-feedback system in the handled animals and these data are consistent with previous work on the relationship between hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors and adrenocortical stress recovery.
mesh_terms: D000302:Adrenal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D006234:Handling, Psychological; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D007700:Kinetics; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D011965:Receptors, Glucocorticoid / Q000378:metabolism*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011965:Receptors, Glucocorticoid; D003907:Dexamethasone