Effects of hypothalamically elicited emotional behaviors on the plasma levels of estradiol and IGF-1

We examined changes in the plasma levels of estradiol (E2), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), ACTH, cortisol and catecholamines accompanying various kinds of hypothalamically elicited emotional behaviors in female cats. The emotional behaviors consisting of restlessness, threat and searching–biting (S–B) were elicited intermittently for 6 h by electrical stimulation of the anterior hypothalamus (AH), ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) and lateral hypothalamus (LH), respectively, in awake and free-moving conditions. The blood was sampled three times immediately before, 1 h after and 6 h after the start of stimulation. The plasma levels of ACTH, cortisol and catecholamines significantly increased in both restlessness and threat behaviors, whereas in the S–B behavior, the ACTH level significantly increased, while the cortisol level showed a slight nonsignificant increase. No changes were observed in the plasma catecholamine levels in the S–B behavior. The plasma E2 level significantly increased in threat behavior after 1 and 6 h of stimulation compared to the prestimulation levels, and the level also increased in comparison to the control group after 1 h. In contrast, the restlessness and S–B behaviors had little or no effect on the E2 level. No significant changes were observed in the plasma levels of IGF-1 in all behavior groups. These findings suggest that various hypothalamically elicited emotional behaviors have differential effects on the plasma E2, but not on the IGF-1 levels. Therefore, E2 and IGF-1 are regulated independently of each other.