Adolescent changes in hindbrain noradrenergic A2 neurons in male rats

During adolescence, the increased susceptibility to stress-related dysfunctions (e.g., anxiety, drug use, obesity) may be influenced by changes in the hormonal stress response mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. We have previously reported that restraint stress leads to significantly prolonged HPA responses in pre-adolescent compared to adult rats. Further, pre-adolescent animals exposed to restraint show greater levels of neural activation than adults in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), a key nucleus integrating information from brain regions that coordinate HPA responses. Here, we examined the potential contribution of the noradrenergic A2 region of the nucleus of the solitary tract (NST) as a contributor to these age-dependent shifts in HPA reactivity. Specifically, we used double-labeled immunohistochemistry for FOS and dopamine-β-hydroxylase (DβH) to measure cellular activation and noradrenergic cells, respectively, before or after restraint stress in pre-adolescent (30days old) and adult (70days old) male rats. We also measured the density of DβH-immunoreactive fibers in the PVN as an index of noradrenergic inputs to this area. We found that pre-adolescent animals have a greater number of DβH-positive cells in the A2 region compared to adults, yet the number and percentage of double-labeled DβH/FOS cells were similar between these two ages. We found no differences between the ages in the staining intensity of DβH-immunoreactive fibers in the PVN. These data indicate there are adolescent-related changes in the number of noradrenergic cells in the A2 region, but no clear association between the increased stress reactivity prior to pubertal maturation and activation of A2 noradrenergic afferents to the PVN.