Hippocampal type I and type II corticosteroid receptors are modulated by central noradrenergic systems

The effects of corticosteroids on various brain functions, including the negative feedback control of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, are mediated by two types of receptors (type I, or mineralocorticoid, and type II, or glucocorticoid) in the central nervous system. Although receptor numbers are thought to be regulated by circulating levels of corticosterone, there may be a direct neural control of corticosteroid receptors. In the present experiments, we demonstrate that 6-OHDA lesioning of noradrenergic (NA) ascending pathways in the pedunculus cerebellaris superior (PCS) reduces corticosterone secretion in response to novelty and increases the number of hippocampal type I corticosteroid receptors in rats 24 hr after adrenalectomy. The same lesion in adrenalectomized animals in which corticosterone levels were maintained within normal limits by corticosterone replacement implants also led to an increase in the number of type I corticosterone receptors and a decrease in the apparent affinity (Kd) of type II receptors in the hippocampus. These results suggest that the NA system may regulate HPA axis activity via a direct control of the number of type I receptors and the apparent affinity of type II receptors in the hippocampus. The possibility that there is a neural control of corticosteroid receptors may throw light on mechanisms controlling HPA axis activity and may suggest other approaches to the treatment of dysregulation of the HPA axis observed during stress and in certain psychopathological conditions.