title: Stress-induced attenuation of brain stem activation following intestinal anaphylaxis in the rat.
abstract: Intestinal anaphylaxis triggers neuronal activation in the nucleus tractus solitarius (nTS) of the rat brain stem. Stress may modulate reflex circuitry in the brain stem and facilitate intestinal inflammatory responses. We hypothesized that stress would modulate central neuronal activation during intestinal anaphylaxis. NTS neurons were activated following intestinal antigen challenge in sensitized Hooded Lister rats but not in negative controls (P < 0.05). The number of Fos-positive neurons following intestinal anaphylaxis decreased in animals exposed to water-avoidance stress (P < 0.05), although serum levels of rat mast cell protease II were not different in stressed and unstressed animals, indicating a similar degree of mast cell degranulation. Stress seems to inhibit neuronal activation in the rat brain stem during intestinal inflammation without modulation of the inflammatory response itself. This may have implications for a potential efferent neuronal modulation of inflammatory responses in the gut.
authors.affiliation: Universität Tübingen, Klinik für Allgemeine Chirurgie, Waldhörnlestrasse 22, D-72072 Tübingen, Germany. martin.kreis@uni-tuebingen.de
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kreis
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reber
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Glatzle
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Enck
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grundy
mesh_terms: D000707:Anaphylaxis / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D002645:Chickens; D007410:Intestinal Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000187:drug effects; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000009:adverse effects; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017552:Solitary Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D010047:Ovalbumin