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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Chronic Stress Potentiates The Response To Intra-Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis (Bnst) Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase Activating Peptide (Pacap) Infusion., Steven Bradley King Jan 2016

Chronic Stress Potentiates The Response To Intra-Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis (Bnst) Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase Activating Peptide (Pacap) Infusion., Steven Bradley King

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Chronic or repeated exposure to stressful stimuli can result in several maladaptive consequences, including increased anxiety-like behaviors and altered peptide expression in brain structures involved in emotion. Among these structures, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) has been implicated in emotional behaviors as well as regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. In rodents, chronic variate stress (CVS) has been shown to increase BNST pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) and its cognate PAC1 receptor transcript, and BNST PACAP signaling may mediate the maladaptive changes associated with chronic stress. In order to determine whether chronic stress would potentiate the …


A Neurobiological Pathway That Mediates Stress-Induced Drug Use, Oliver Vranjkovic Oct 2015

A Neurobiological Pathway That Mediates Stress-Induced Drug Use, Oliver Vranjkovic

Dissertations (1934 -)

Cocaine addiction represents a tremendous health and financial burden on our society and the high rate of relapse to cocaine use in abstinent addicts represents a major barrier to effective therapy. Thus, understanding the factors that contribute to relapse and the underlying neurobiological processes is important for guiding the development of treatment for addiction. Stressful life events often trigger drug use in recovering addicts. The contribution of stress to drug use is problematic due to the unpredictable and often uncontrollable nature of stress. A growing literature indicates that norepinephrine and corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) in the brain play key roles …


Stress-Induced Cocaine Seeking Requires A Beta-2 Adrenergic Receptor-Regulated Pathway From The Ventral Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis That Regulates Crf Actions In The Ventral Tegmental Area, Oliver Vranjkovic, Paul J. Gasser, Clayton H. Gerndt, David A. Baker, John R. Mantsch Sep 2014

Stress-Induced Cocaine Seeking Requires A Beta-2 Adrenergic Receptor-Regulated Pathway From The Ventral Bed Nucleus Of The Stria Terminalis That Regulates Crf Actions In The Ventral Tegmental Area, Oliver Vranjkovic, Paul J. Gasser, Clayton H. Gerndt, David A. Baker, John R. Mantsch

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The ventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (vBNST) has been implicated in stress-induced cocaine use. Here we demonstrate that, in the vBNST, corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) is expressed in neurons that innervate the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a site where the CRF receptor antagonist antalarmin prevents the reinstatement of cocaine seeking by a stressor, intermittent footshock, following intravenous self-administration in rats. The vBNST receives dense noradrenergic innervation and expresses β adrenergic receptors (ARs). Footshock-induced reinstatement was prevented by bilateral intra-vBNST injection of the β-2 AR antagonist, ICI-118,551, but not the β-1 AR antagonist, betaxolol. Moreover, bilateral intra-vBNST injection of …