Central Vs Peripheral Estrogen Effects in Enhanced Behavioral Responses to a Systemic Nacl Load

Abstract

To determine whether the effect of estrogen to decrease the latency to begin drinking during a hypertonic saline infusion is due to alterations in renal function that lead to a more rapid increase in plasma osmolality or is attributable to estrogen effects on receptors within the central nervous system that detect hyperosmolality. There were neither differences in plasma osmolality between estrogen and OIL-treated rats nor differences in the number of Fos-positive cells in the forebrain circumventricular organs (CVOs). The findings from Experiment 1 suggest that the decreased latency to water intake in estrogen treated rats is not attributable to differences in renal function that lead to a more rapid increase in plasma osmolality. The results of Experiment 2 make it seem unlikely that estrogen alters neural activation in the forebrain CVOs in response to increased plasma osmolality.