Mesotelencephalic dopamine neurochemical responses to glucocorticoid administration and adrenalectomy in Fischer 344 and Lewis rats

The effects of alterations in peripheral corticosterone levels on multiple dopamine neurochemical estimates were examined in inbred Fischer and Lewis inbred rat strains. 2×2 ANOVA’s (treatment×strain) showed a main effect for treatment (1 week CORT versus placebo) on the concentrations of the dopamine metabolites homovanillic acid and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid in the medial prefrontal cortex, with lower levels after treatment, but no significant treatment versus strain interaction. There was no effect of CORT treatment on DA metabolites in the nucleus accumbens shell or dorsal striatum. DOPA accumulation in any terminal region examined and tyrosine hydroxylase protein content in the ventral tegmental area were also not affected by 1 week of corticosterone in either strain. One week after adrenalectomy, homovanillic acid but not dihydroxyphenylacetic acid concentrations were significantly increased in the medial prefrontal cortex, dorsal striatum, and nucleus accumbens shell in the Lewis but not the Fischer strain, with a significant treatment×strain interaction only in the dorsal striatum. Based on these findings, the effect of adrenalectomy on DOPA accumulation and extracellular DA concentrations was examined in the Lewis strain only. Adrenalectomy produced a decrease in DOPA accumulation in the dorsal striatum with no significant change in the other regions. Adrenalectomy did not alter estimates of extracellular dopamine concentrations determined by in vivo no net flux microdialysis but did significantly increase in vivo dopamine recovery in the dorsal striatum. The findings indicate a pattern of changes in neurochemical measurements consistent with a small magnitude inhibition of basal dopamine metabolism, but not with a change neuronal activity, release or reuptake.