Actividad de neuropeptidasas en regiones cortico-límbicas tras estrés agudo por inmovilización

Abstract

Enkephalins and oxytocin are anxiolytic agents involved in the stress response. Acute restraint stress (ARS) may influence on soluble (Sol) and membrane-bound (MB) enkephalinase and oxytocinase activities in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), amygdala (AM) or hippocampus (HC) involved in this response. Both activities are influenced by ARS. While most activities showed a predominance of AM, both in control and stressed animals, MB enkephalinase activity showed a change after stress, increasing in HC and reducing in AM. In controls, there was a positive interaction between mPFC and AM, without a clear relationship between the other regions. In contrast, after stress, data suggested a highly significant change in the functional status of this circuit mainly activating a positive correlation between mPFC and HC and between AM and HC. This study may indicate the connection of neuropeptidase activities, and their substrates, with the functional status of these regions, changing significantly after restraint stress.