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Updated: Aug 21, 2026
Functional Interrogation of Adult Hypothalamic Neurogenesis with Focal Radiological Inhibition
Published on: November 14, 2013
A single brain-derived neurotrophic factor injection modifies hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis activity in
Laurent Givalois1, Gaëlle Naert, Florence Rage
1Cerebral Plasticity Laboratory, FRE 2693 CNRS, University of Montpellier II, 34095 Montpellier, France. lgivalois@univ-montp2.fr
Abstract:
Immobilization stress induces in adult male rats rapid activation of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) preceding the increases in corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) and arginin-vasopressin (AVP) expression. The BDNF mRNA signal belatedly co-localizes with CRH and AVP mRNA signals in the PVN, as determined by in situ hybridization. Intracerebroventricular BDNF injections (5 microg/rat) in non-anesthetized adult male rats induce a gradual increase in the CRH mRNA signal whereas AVP mRNA signal progressively decreases in the parvocellular and magnocellular PVN portions. At the same time, the CRH hypothalamic content decreases while the AVP content increases. These variations are accompanied by increases in ACTH and corticosterone plasma concentrations. These results strongly suggest that BDNF could be a stress-responsive intercellular messenger since when it is exogenously administered acts as an important and early component in the activation and recruitment of hypothalamic CRH and AVP neurons.
