Faculty Collaboration Database

Effect of animal facility construction on basal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and renin-aldosterone activity in the rat. Endocrinology 2011 Apr;152(4):1218-21

Date

01/21/2011

Pubmed ID

21248141

Pubmed Central ID

PMC3060631

DOI

10.1210/en.2010-1432

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-79953219058 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   24 Citations

Abstract

Although loud noise and intense vibration are known to alter the behavior and phenotype of laboratory animals, little is known about the effects of nearby construction. We studied the effect of a nearby construction project on the classic stress hormones ACTH, corticosterone, renin, and aldosterone in rats residing in a barrier animal facility before, for the first 3 months of a construction project, and at 1 month after all construction was completed. During some of the construction, noise and vibrations were not obvious to investigators inside the animal rooms. Body weight matched for age was not altered by nearby construction. During nearby construction, plasma ACTH, corticosterone, and aldosterone were approximately doubled compared with those of pre- and postconstruction levels. Expression of CRH mRNA in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, CRH receptor and POMC mRNA in the anterior pituitary, and most mRNAs for steroidogenic genes in the adrenal gland were not significantly changed during construction. We conclude that nearby construction can cause a stress response without long-term effects on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis gene expression and body weight.

Author List

Raff H, Bruder ED, Cullinan WE, Ziegler DR, Cohen EP

Authors

William E. Cullinan PhD Adjunct Associate Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Hershel Raff PhD Professor in the Academic Affairs department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone
Aldosterone
Animals
Corticosterone
Facility Design and Construction
Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System
Male
Noise
Pituitary-Adrenal System
Rats
Renin
Vibration