title: Rapid corticosterone pulses.
abstract: If micro-sampling techniques are used in conjunction with a highly sensitive radioimmunoassay procedure, it is possible to obtain repeated rapid measurements of plasma corticosterone concentrations from unanesthetized rats. Such a procedure reveals the existence of rapid corticosterone pulses with a duration of less than 60 s and amplitudes as great as 250 ng/ml. Several procedures were employed to determine that the pulses were not simply artifacts of the measurement and sampling methods. The existence of such rapid pulses provides for a duality of glucocorticoid function consisting of a rapid dynamic response capable of functioning simultaneously with, but independently of a slower long term regulatory response.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D007700:Kinetics; D011863:Radioimmunoassay / Q000379:methods; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D003345:Corticosterone