Noradrenergic turnover increases in locus coeruleus after hemorrhage in cats

Push-pull perfusion was used to determine monoaminergic activity in the locus coeruleus (LC) of alpha-chloralose-urethan-anesthetized cats after 20% hemorrhage. Blood was withdrawn from 0 to 3 min and reinfused from 10 to 13 min. Continuous 5-min interval samples of perfusate were collected from -5 to 15 min. Concentrations of the monoamines were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. The perfusion sites (n = 21) were identified histologically. In a group of eight contiguous sites in the ventral LC (vLC), 4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-phenyl(ethylene)glycol (MHPG) increased significantly from 0.50 +/- 0.22 (control) to 1.19 +/- 0.42 pmol/5 min during the first 5 min after hemorrhage (P less than 0.05). This response differed significantly from that obtained at the remaining 13 sites. Other metabolites were not often detectable for many sites either within or outside vLC, and their responses to hemorrhage were not significant. The response of MHPG in the vLC indicates that norepinephrine (NE) turnover increases in this area selectively and implicates NE in the increase in the catecholamine oxidation current reported previously using in vivo voltammetry. Since the vLC was shown previously to facilitate adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) release, the increase in NE turnover after hemorrhage could induce ACTH release. This increase may also act locally to modulate the ascending hemodynamic signal.