Involvement of the medial amygdaloid nucleus in restraint stress-induced pressor responses in rats.

Abstract

Restraint stress increased the number of neurons with Fos immunoreactivity in the medial amygdaloid nucleus in rats and caused an increase in blood pressure. The stress-induced pressor response was inhibited by muscimol (80 pmol), a neuroinhibitory compound, injected bilaterally into the medial amygdaloid area, whereas muscimol (8 pmol) similarly injected had only a tendency of inhibition of the pressor response. These data suggest that the medial amygdaloid nucleus is involved in mediation of the restraint stress-induced pressor response.