Inputs to the ventrolateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis

Abstract

The ventrolateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTvl) receives direct input from two specific subpopulations of neurons in the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS). It is heavily innervated by aldosterone-sensitive NTS neurons, which are selectively activated by sodium depletion, and by the A2 noradrenergic neurons, which are activated by visceral, immune- and stress-related stimuli. Here, we used a retrograde neuronal tracer to identify other brain sites that innervate the BSTvl. Five general brain regions contained retrogradely labeled neurons: cerebral cortex (infralimbic and insular regions), rostral forebrain structures (subfornical organ, organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, taenia tecta, nucleus accumbens, lateral septum, endopiriform nucleus, dorsal BST, substantia innominata, and most prominently the amygdala – primarily its basomedial and central subnuclei), thalamus (central medial, intermediodorsal, reuniens, and most prominently the paraventricular thalamic nucleus), hypothalamus (medial preoptic area, perifornical, arcuate, dorsomedial, parasubthalamic, and posterior hypothalamic nuclei), and brainstem (periaqueductal gray matter, dorsal and central superior raphe nuclei, parabrachial nucleus, pre-locus coeruleus region, NTS, and A1 noradrenergic neurons in the caudal ventrolateral medulla). In the arcuate hypothalamic nucleus, some retrogradely-labeled neurons contained either agouti-related peptide or cocaine-amphetamine regulated transcript. Of the numerous retrogradely labeled neurons in the perifornical hypothalamic area, few contained melanin concentrating hormone or orexin. In the brainstem, many retrogradely labeled neurons were either serotoninergic or catecholaminergic. In summary, the BSTvl receives inputs from a variety of brain sites implicated in hunger, salt and water intake, stress, arousal, and reward.

Distinct neural mechanisms for the control of thirst and salt appetite in the subfornical organ

“…My results are consistent with the previous finding that the ablation of the BNST, including both of the dorsal and ventral parts, reduced salt intake (Reilly et al, 1994;Zardetto-Smith et al, 1994). In rats, the vBNST is functionally divided into subnuclei, and the ventrolateral BNST has been reported to have neural connections with some brain regions related to salt appetite (Shin et al, 2008). It would be a future task to investigate whether such subregions also exist in the vBNST of mice.…”

Orexinergic innervation of the extended amygdala and basal ganglia in the rat

“…Published reports from tracing, ultrastructural and chemoarchitectonic studies have shown that the small OX neuronal population emits numerous projections throughout the neuraxis from the olfactory bulb and cerebral cortex to the spinal cord (Broberger et al 1998;Elias et al 1998;Cutler et al 1999;Date et al 1999Date et al , 2000Horvath et al 1999;Nambu et al 1999;Bayer et al 2001;Baldo et al 2003;Caillol et al 2003;Guan et al 2003;Sakamoto et al 2004;España et al 2005;Fadel et al 2005;Kirouac et al 2005;Lee et al 2005;Stoyanova and Lazarov 2005;Balcita-Pedicino and Sesack 2007;Oldfield et al 2007;Shibata et al 2008;Shin et al 2008). These findings were corroborated by evaluations of development (Steininger et al 2004;Steininger and Kilduff 2005) neurophysiological investigations (Bayer et al 2002(Bayer et al , 2004Fadel and Deutch 2002;Martin et al 2002;Zheng et al 2005;Bisetti et al, 2006) and comparative approaches (Iqbal et al 2001;McGranaghan and Piggins 2001;Mintz et al 2001;Moore et al 2001;Novak and Albers 2002;Horowitz et al 2005;Takakusaki et al 2005;S...…”

Circumventricular Organs

“…Very few neurons project from these sites to the ventromedial core (Miselis et al, 1979;Lind et al, 1982Lind et al, , 1984Swanson and Lind, 1986;Oldfield et al, 1994;Sunn et al, 2001;Uschakov et al, 2006;Hollis et al, 2008;Uschakov et al, 2009). The main targets of neurons occupying its ventromedial core were the BNST Shin et al, 2008), the parvocellular subdivisions of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (Swanson and Lind, 1986;Kawano and Masuko, 2010;Krause et al, 2011) and dorsal raphé nucleus (Badauê-Passos et al, 2007).…”