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Localization of aldosterone and corticosterone in the central nervous system, assessed by quantitative autoradiography

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Abstract

Nuclear localization of tritiated aldosterone in the CNS was studied in rats by numerical evaluation of silver grains, deposited over neuronal cell nuclei in thawmounted autoradiograms, and compared with the localization obtained after prior administration of a 100-fold excess of radioinert aldosterone, corticosterone or 18-hydroxy-11-deoxycorticosterone (18-OH-DOC). Corticosterone and 18-OH_DOC completely prevented nuclear localization in most regions examined. However, in contrast to pretreatment with aldosterone, pretreatment with corticosterone and 18-OH-DOC did not completely prevent the concentration of radio-activity in the cell nuclei of the indusium griseum. Traces of radioactivity were, furthermore, retained in areas CA1 and CA2 and the dentate gyrus in rats exposed to corticosterone, but not to 18-OH-DOC, prior to [3H]aldosterone. A similar profile of silver grain distribution to that noted with aldosterone was found for corticosterone except that with tritiated corticosterone the most intense concentration of radioactivity occurred in hippocampal areas CA1 and CA2 and not in the indusium griseum. Prior administration of excess deoxycorticosterone acetate abolished nuclear accumulation of tritiated corticosterone. Dihydrotestosterone, on the other hand, failed to compete with tritiated corticosterone at a dose 200-fold in excess of the tritiated steroid.

We conclude that (1) a receptor readily shared by aldosterone, corticosterone, 18-OH-DOC and DOC, but not by dihydrotestosterone, is widely distributed throughout the CNS, (2) a receptor shared by aldosterone and 18-OH-DOC, but not by corticosterone may be present in hippocampal areas CA1 and CA2, (3) that both these as well as the receptor accepting dihydrotestosterone can be located within the same cell.

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Author notes

  1. Marion K. Birmingham (Dr)

    Present address: Allan Memorial Institute, 1033 Pine Avenue West, H3A 1A1, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

    Madhabananda Sar & Walter E. Stumpf

  2. Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec

    Marion K. Birmingham (Dr)

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  1. Marion K. Birmingham
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  2. Madhabananda Sar
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  3. Walter E. Stumpf
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Dedicated to K. A. C. Elliott on his 80th birthday.

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Birmingham, M.K., Sar, M. & Stumpf, W.E. Localization of aldosterone and corticosterone in the central nervous system, assessed by quantitative autoradiography. Neurochem Res 9, 333–350 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00963982

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