title: Active coping with stress suppresses glucose metabolism in the rat hypothalamus.
abstract: We used 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose small-animal positron-emission tomography to determine whether different styles of coping with stress are associated with different patterns of neuronal activity in the hypothalamus. Adult rats were subjected to immobilization (IMO)-stress or to a non-immobilized condition for 30 min, in random order on separate days, each of which was followed by brain-scanning. Some rats in the immobilized condition were allowed to actively cope with the stress by chewing a wooden stick during IMO, while the other immobilized rats were given nothing to chew on. Voxel-based statistical analysis of the brain imaging data shows that chewing counteracted the stress-induced increased glucose uptake in the hypothalamus to the level of the non-immobilized condition. Region-of-interest analysis of the glucose uptake values further showed that chewing significantly suppressed stress-induced increased glucose uptake in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus and the anterior hypothalamic area but not in the lateral hypothalamus. Together with the finding that the mean plasma corticosterone concentration at the termination of the IMO was also significantly suppressed when rats had an opportunity to chew a wooden stick, our results showed that active coping by chewing inhibited the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to reduce the endocrine stress response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Neuroscience, Kanagawa Dental College, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Yumie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Hsiao-Chun
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Kai-Yuan
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Tzen
authors.forename: Hui-Hsing
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Pai-Feng
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Wen-Sung
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Jyh-Horng
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Onozuka
authors.forename: Chen-Tung
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Yen
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 / Q000378:metabolism; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism*; D007103:Immobilization; D008297:Male; D059906:Neuroimaging; D010286:Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone; D005947:Glucose; D003345:Corticosterone