ADRENALECTOMY ALTERS THE RESPONSE OF NEURONS IN THE BED NUCLEUS OF THE STRIA TERMINALIS TO ELECTRICAL-STIMULATION OF THE MEDIAL AMYGDALA

This study was performed to characterize the effects of adrenalectomy (ADX) on electrical activity and synaptic responses of bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and preoptic area (POA) neurons, which are involved in the control of limbic-hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortica l (LHPA) activity. Adrenalectomy altered the response of BNST neurons to medial amygdala (AME) stimulation, increasing the proportion of exc itatory responses and reducing the number of cells inhibited. No such effects were found for neurons within the POA. The basal activity of n eurons recorded within the BNST and POA, as well as the latencies and duration of responses, was not affected. The specificity of the effect s upon BNST, but not POA, neurons suggests that the response of BNST n eurons to AME stimulation is corticosteroid dependent, whereas the res ponse of preoptic neurons is not.