Chunk #21 — Results — Suppression of AEA/CB1 receptor signaling within the basolateral amygdala complex contributes to stress-induced activation of the HPA axis
These data suggest that decreased tonic CB1 receptor activity within the BLA promotes HPA axis activation by stress; to test this hypothesis, we examined the effects of local administration of AM251 into the BLA on both basal and stress-induced corticosterone secretion (Fig. 5). There was a significant main effect of both stress [F (1, 15) = 121.77, p < 0.001] and intra-BLA administration of AM251 [F (1, 15) = 4.81, p < 0.05] on serum corticosterone but no significant interaction between AM251 administration and stress [F (1, 15) = 0.14, p > 0.05]. AM251 administration into the BLA resulted in a moderate increase in serum corticosterone under both basal and stress conditions, but did not potentiate stress-induced corticosterone secretion, per se. Infusion of AM251 into the CeA and MeA did not affect stress-induced serum corticosterone (Fig. 5).
