Repeated immobilization stress increases nur77 expression in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis

The transcription factor Nur77 has been identified as a neuronal activation marker of stressful stimuli in the central nervous system. Nur77 plays a key role at all levels of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis during the stress response. However, the participation of Nur77 in extra-hypothalamic responses to stress is unknown. In this study, we studied the impact of acute and repeated immobilization stress on Nur77 expression in the bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BNST), a region involved in autonomic, neuroendocrine, and behavioral responses to stress. After a single session of immobilization stress we observed a significant increase of Nur77-like immunoreactivity in the BNST. This effect is not lost with repeated exposure to stress, since Nur77-like immunoreactivity and Nur77 mRNA in BNST were increased after the fifteenth stress session. The administration of desipramine, a specific inhibitor of noradrenaline reuptake, prevented the increase in Nur77-like immunoreactivity and mRNA induced by stress in rats subjected to repeated exposure to immobilization stress. Our results show that acute and repeated stress modulates Nur77 expression in BNST and suggest that Nur77 participates in extra-hypothalamic responses to stress.