| Abstract: | Computer analysis and histochemical techniques were used to investigate catecholamine concentration in the adrenergic plexuses of the spleen and small intestine in rats. The concentration was found to increase during both emotional and short-term cold-induced stress. Injection of 10 mg/kg guanethidine i.p. does not counteract cold-induced accumulation of catecholamines in the adrenergic plexuses of the spleen and small intestine. During emotional stress, by contrast, an accumulation of this sort does take place. The mechanisms potentially underlying catecholamine accumulation in the adrenergic plexus of these organisms associated with different types of stress are discussed. Cold-induced stress is thought to produce catecholamine synthesis in the adrenergic nerve endings of the prevertebral ganglia, whereas emotional stress leads to catecholamine uptake by adrenergic terminals from the blood.Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Byelorussian SSR, Minsk. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 347–354, May–June, 1990. |
