Partial aortic ligature induces selective long-term c-fos like immunoreactivity in the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, medial preoptic area and choroid plexus in the rat

Partial aortic ligature causes an increase in water and sodium intake. Circ umventricular brain regions are known to be involved in the regulation of t hese processes. In this work we use c-fos-like immunoreactivity to detect a ctive areas involved in the long-term control of increased water and sodium intake due to partial aortic ligature. A significant increase in water int ake was found on the first day after the induction, while natriophilia was observed on the fourth day. c-fos-like immunoreactivity was found selective ly in the subfornical organ, the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminali s, the medial preoptic area, and the choroid plexus of the third ventricle. Present results provide further evidence for the involvement of circumvent ricular organs and the preoptic area in the regulation of hydromineral bala nce. Moreover, they suggest a maintained and long-term regulation of sodium intake by these same brain areas. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. A ll rights reserved.