Hypothalamic Nuclear Glucocorticoid Receptors: Acute Stress and Rapid Actions

Stress, be it physical or psychological, causes the activation of a neuroendocrine cascade that involves both central and peripheral mechanisms. In the simplest terms, central release of CRH from the paraventricular nucleus of thehypothalamus (PVN)andsubsequent releaseofACTH from the pituitary result in the peripheral release of glucocorticoids (cortisol in primates and corticosterone in many rodent species) from the adrenal gland (1). Glucocorticoids then act via negative feedback both centrally and peripherally through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) to inhibit the further release of CRH from the PVN and ACTH from the pituitary (2). This process is a delicate balance that helps restore homeostasis, but perturbation of these responses can lead to neurobehavioral and physiological dysfunctions, including mood disorders and obesity (3–5). Hence, understanding the basic mechanisms that mediate this neuroendocrine loop has broad implications for both health and disease. Two companion papers in this issue by Solomon et al (6) and Nahar et al (7) have helped to further reveal the mechanisms through which glucocorticoids influence hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function. Both reports use a powerful mouse model in which Sim1-cre recombinase transgenic mice are bred with homozygous floxed GR mice. Sim1 is a transcription factor specifically expressed in the PVN, supraoptic nucleus, and periventricular nucleus (8) and is responsible for the proper maturation of neurosecretory cells in the PVN (9). As Solomon et al report, theoffspring fromthis cross showsignificantly reduced GR levels in the PVN while leaving GR levels intact in the pituitary and other brain regions important in glucocorticoid-dependent negative feedback (6), thus resulting in a relatively anatomically restricted GR reduction. Using these PVN GR knockdown (KD) mice, Solomon et al (6) find sex-specific and stressor-dependent effects on HPA reactivity. In particular, they show GR KD mice respond to a brief 30-minute session of restraint stress with significantly increased and prolonged ACTH and corticosterone responses compared with their littermate controls, suggesting reduced negative feedback on the HPA axis (6). Notably, however, these effects of GR KD were observed only in males because female GR KD mice show reduced restraint-induced ACTH and no differences in stress-induced corticosterone responsiveness. In response to chronic variable stress, neither male nor female GR KD mice show any differences in HPA reactivity. Hence, the authors conclude that there are significant sex differences in the role that PVN GR plays in response to acute stress and that changes in HPA reactivity after chronic stress in male and female mice are independent of GR in the PVN (6). Complimenting this line of research, the report by Nahar et al (7) investigated rapid nongenomic actions of glucocorticoids in modulating excitatory and inhibitory transmission in the mouse hypothalamus. They show that hypothalamic magnocellular neurons respond to dexamethasone (DEX), a synthetic glucocorticoid, with a rapid suppression of excitatory postsynaptic inputs (ie, glutamatergic synapses). The authors further demonstrate that this effect of DEX is mediated by postsynaptic membrane associated receptors and G protein signaling (7), similar to their seminal work in rats (10–12). The authors also show that DEX leads to a rapid nitric oxide-dependent increase in inhibitory postsynaptic inputs [ie, -aminobutyric acid