Sodium deprivation and salt intake activate separate neuronal subpopulations in the nucleus of the solitary tract and the parabrachial complex

Salt intake is an established response to sodium deficiency, but the brain circuits that regulate this behavior remain poorly understood. We studied the activation of neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) and their efferent target nuclei in the pontine parabrachial complex (PB) in rats during sodium deprivation and after salt intake. After 8‐day dietary sodium deprivation, immunoreactivity for c‐Fos (a neuronal activity marker) increased markedly within the aldosterone‐sensitive neurons of the NTS, which express the enzyme 11‐β‐hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (HSD2). In the PB, c‐Fos labeling increased specifically within two sites that relay signals from the HSD2 neurons to the forebrain—the pre‐locus coeruleus and the innermost region of the external lateral parabrachial nucleus. Then, 1–2 hours after sodium‐deprived rats ingested salt (a hypertonic 3% solution of NaCl), c‐Fos immunoreactivity within the HSD2 neurons was virtually eliminated, despite a large increase in c‐Fos activation in the surrounding NTS (including the A2 noradrenergic neurons) and area postrema. Also after salt intake, c‐Fos activation increased within pontine nuclei that relay gustatory (caudal medial PB) and viscerosensory (rostral lateral PB) information from the NTS to the forebrain. Thus, sodium deficiency and salt intake stimulate separate subpopulations of neurons in the NTS, which then transmit this information to the forebrain via largely separate relay nuclei in the PB complex. These findings offer new perspectives on the roles of sensory information from the brainstem in the regulation of sodium appetite. J. Comp. Neurol. 504:379–403, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.