title: Stress-induced intercellular communication remodeling in the rat adrenal medulla.
abstract: To understand the mechanisms by which a prolonged exposure to stress enhances catecholamine secretion, we examined the effects of 5-day cold exposure on cell-cell communication pathways in the rat adrenal medulla. Upon stress, the neurosecretory tissue undergoes dramatic morphofunctional changes resulting in increased chromaffin cell excitability, upregulation of both chemical transmission at the splanchnic nerve terminal-chromaffin cell synapses and spreading of gap junction-permeant Lucifer yellow between cells. All these changes converge to improve the stimulus-secretion coupling efficiency within the adrenal medulla and subsequently to adapt catecholamine release to a sustained organism demand.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Genomics, Department of Endocrinology, CNRS UMR5203, INSERM U661, and University of Montpellier (IFR3), Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Colomer
authors.forename: Chrystel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lafont
authors.forename: Nathalie C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Guérineau
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000313:Adrenal Medulla / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000378:metabolism*; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology*; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004594:Electrophysiology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D002395:Catecholamines