Central catecholamine alterations induced by stressor exposure: analyses in recombinant inbred strains of mice

Stressors increase plasma corticosterone concentrations and the turnover of norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine (DA) in some brain regions. However, appreciable interindividual and interstrain differences exist in this respect. The present investigation assessed the NE and DA changes induced by uncontrollable footshock in the BALB/cByJ and C57BL/6ByJ mice and seven recombinant inbred strains. Stressor exposure indeed provoked strain dependent alterations of plasma corticosterone, hypothalamic and mesocortical NE, as well as mesocortcolimbic DA. The profile of stressor effects in the recombinant strains with respect to the NE alterations, the mesocortical DA changes, as well as plasma corticosterone was commensurate with a polygenic mode of inheritance. The data were related to behavioral changes induced by stressors in these strains of mice, as well as to the contribution of the brain amines to stressor-induced behavioral changes.