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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Isolation, Fixation, and Immunofluorescence Imaging of Mouse Adrenal Glands
Published on: October 2, 2018
The adrenal gland is a source of stress-induced circulating IL-18
Shuei Sugama1, Ning Wang, Noriaki Shimokawa
1Department of Physiology, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8602, Japan. sugama@nms.ac.jp
Abstract:
The present study compared plasma IL-18 levels between sham-operated and adrenalectomized mice following stress to investigate whether the adrenal gland contributes to the elevation of circulating IL-18 during stress. Two hours of stress provoked a robust, stressor-dependent, elevation of IL-18 mRNA and peptide in the adrenal gland in sham-operated mice. Consistently, levels of circulating mature IL-18 increased during stress and remained elevated for up to 6 h after stress. The stress-induced increase in circulating IL-18 was abolished by adrenalectomy. These findings demonstrate that the adrenal gland is required to achieve elevation of circulating IL-18 during stress.
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