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Interaction of Stress and Ethanol: Effect on β‐Endorphin and Catecholamines
Author(s) -
Patel Vandana A.,
Pohorecky Larissa A.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1988.tb01346.x
Subject(s) - medicine , endocrinology , epinephrine , chemistry , beta endorphin , catecholamine , corticosterone , saline , dopamine , norepinephrine , hypothalamus , ethanol , hormone , biochemistry
To examine the interaction of ethanol (ET) and stress on β‐endorphin and catecholamine (CA) levels, male rats pretreated with ET (3.0 g/kg, i.p.) or saline were immobilized for 30 min and killed 90 min after the initial injection. Stress resulted in ( a ) an increase in plasma levels of norepinephrine (NE, 243%), epinephrine (E, 175%), β‐endorphin (220%) and corticosterone (CS, 151%) and a decrease in dopamine (DA, 54%); ( b ) a decrease in hypothalamic NE (15%) and β‐endorphin (33%) levels and an increase E (23%) and DA (58%) levels; ( c ) a decrease in pituitary β‐endorphin levels in both the neurointermediate (23%) and anterior (131%) lobes. Treatment with ET resulted in: ( a ) an increase in plasma NE (81%), E (53%), CS (71%), and β‐endorphin (33%) levels and decrease in DA (54%); ( b ) a decrease in the hypothalamic NE (12%) levels and an increase DA (27%) and β‐endorphin (46%) levels, and ( c ) a decrease in β‐endorphin (15.5%) in the intermediate lobe of the pituitary. Treatment with ET of stressed animals had only a small effect: ( a ) in plasma NE, E, CS, and β‐endorphin levels decreased by 30, 31, 14, and 36%, respectively; ( b ) in the hypothalamus DA levels decreased by 40% and β‐endorphin increased by 71%; ( c ) in the pituitary β‐endorphin increased in both the intermediate lobe (25%) and anterior (50%) lobes. Thus when the data of the stressed ET‐treated group is compared to that of the nonstressed saline injected group, none of the measures differ significantly. These results confirm our earlier work indicating a significant interaction of ET and stress.