Regional expression of c-fos antigen in the basal forebrain following intraventricular infusions of angiotensin and its modulation by drinking either water or saline

The expression of c-fos protein was examined in the basal forebrains of male rats 60 min following intracerebroventricular infusions of 250 pmol angiotensin II. Levels of corticosterone and vasopressin were also measured at the same time point. In animals not allowed access to water after infusion, angiotensin II induced intense c-fos expression in a band of neurons extending throughout the anterior region of the third ventricle region, including the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, the median preoptic nucleus (nucleus medianus) and the subfornical organ. There were also high levels of expression in the hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus and the paraventricular nucleus, particularly its lateral (magnocellular) region, though other, parvicellular areas were also affected. No other area of the hypothalamus was altered. There was increased c-fos expression in the central nucleus of the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Allowing rats to drink during the 60-min survival period modified this pattern of response, c-fos was markedly reduced in the supraoptic nucleus and the paraventricular nucleus but not in the other areas examined, including the anterior region of the third ventricle and the amygdala. When water was withheld for 15min, but then allowed, rats drank the same total volume but c-fos expression was no longer inhibited in either the supraoptic nucleus or paraventricular nucleus. When rats were given 0.9% saline to drink, they ingested about three times as much as water, but angiotensin II-induced c-fos expression was similar to that in rats denied access to water. The pattern was similar following access to 1.8% saline, though levels in the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis were reduced. There was a marked correlation between the number of c-fos -positive neurons in the supraoptic nucleus or paraventricular nucleus and plasma levels of corticosterone 60 min after infusion, but not with arginine-vasopressin levels. These experiments show that angiotensin II induces highly localized expression of c-fos in areas known to be concerned with the dipsogenic and endocrine actions of this peptide, and that this pattern is selectively altered by allowing the animal to drink solutions of different tonicity. Immediate-early gene expression is a novel and valuable method of determining the neural response to peptides at the cellular level.