Daily limited access to sweetened drink attenuates hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis stress responses

Endocrinology. 2007 Apr;148(4):1823-34. doi: 10.1210/en.2006-1241. Epub 2007 Jan 4.

Abstract

Stress can promote palatable food intake, and consumption of palatable foods may dampen psychological and physiological responses to stress. Here we develop a rat model of daily limited sweetened drink intake to further examine the linkage between consumption of preferred foods and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis responses to acute and chronic stress. Adult male rats with free access to water were given additional twice-daily access to 4 ml sucrose (30%), saccharin (0.1%; a noncaloric sweetener), or water. After 14 d of training, rats readily learned to drink sucrose and saccharin solutions. Half the rats were then given chronic variable stress (CVS) for 14 d immediately after each drink exposure; the remaining rats (nonhandled controls) consumed their appropriate drinking solution at the same time. On the morning after CVS, responses to a novel restraint stress were assessed in all rats. Multiple indices of chronic stress adaptation were effectively altered by CVS. Sucrose consumption decreased the plasma corticosterone response to restraint stress in CVS rats and nonhandled controls; these reductions were less pronounced in rats drinking saccharin. Sucrose or saccharin consumption decreased CRH mRNA expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. Moreover, sucrose attenuated restraint-induced c-fos mRNA expression in the basolateral amygdala, infralimbic cortex, and claustrum. These data suggest that limited consumption of sweetened drink attenuates hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis stress responses, and calories contribute but are not necessary for this effect. Collectively the results support the hypothesis that the intake of palatable substances represents an endogenous mechanism to dampen physiological stress responses.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological
  • Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / blood
  • Animals
  • Circadian Rhythm
  • Drinking*
  • Eating
  • Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / drug effects*
  • Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / metabolism
  • Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / physiopathology
  • Male
  • Pituitary-Adrenal System / drug effects*
  • Pituitary-Adrenal System / metabolism
  • Pituitary-Adrenal System / physiopathology
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / metabolism
  • Rats
  • Rats, Long-Evans
  • Stress, Psychological / metabolism
  • Stress, Psychological / physiopathology*
  • Sucrose / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
  • Sucrose
  • Adrenocorticotropic Hormone