| First Author | Hinton AO Jr | Year | 2016 |
| Journal | Hypertension | Volume | 67 |
| Issue | 6 | Pages | 1321-30 |
| PubMed ID | 27091896 | Mgi Jnum | J:280128 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6369307 | Doi | 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.116.07175 |
| Citation | Hinton AO Jr, et al. (2016) Estrogen Receptor-alpha in the Medial Amygdala Prevents Stress-Induced Elevations in Blood Pressure in Females. Hypertension 67(6):1321-30 |
| abstractText | Psychological stress contributes to the development of hypertension in humans. The ovarian hormone, estrogen, has been shown to prevent stress-induced pressor responses in females by unknown mechanisms. Here, we showed that the antihypertensive effects of estrogen during stress were blunted in female mice lacking estrogen receptor-alpha in the brain medial amygdala. Deletion of estrogen receptor-alpha in medial amygdala neurons also resulted in increased excitability of these neurons, associated with elevated ionotropic glutamate receptor expression. We further demonstrated that selective activation of medial amygdala neurons mimicked effects of stress to increase blood pressure in mice. Together, our results support a model where estrogen acts on estrogen receptor-alpha expressed by medial amygdala neurons to prevent stress-induced activation of these neurons, and therefore prevents pressor responses to stress. |
