title: Hypothalamic linkage in stress-induced hypocalcemia, gastric damage, and emotional behavior in rats.
abstract: The effects of hypothalamic lesions on stress-induced hypocalcemia, gastric damage, and swim test-evoked behavior were examined in rats. Bilateral lesions of the ventromedial nucleus in the hypothalamus (VMH) eliminated water-restraint stress-induced hypocalcemia and attenuated any gastric damage compared with those in the sham-operated rats. In contrast, lesions in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) exacerbated both the stress-induced hypocalcemia and gastric lesions in comparison with those in the control rats. In a forced-swimming test, the VMH-lesioned rats showed a significantly shorter time of immobility as well as a longer duration of struggling than the control rats, respectively, while the PVN-lesioned animals spent a longer time in immobility and a shorter period struggling than the control rats. These results suggest that the VMH has an accelerative action in stress-induced hypocalcemia, gastric lesions, and behavioral despair, while the PVN has an opposite effect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aou
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tashiro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005260:Female; D006996:Hypocalcemia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013270:Stomach / Q000473:pathology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology