Glucocorticoid influence on tyrosine hydroxylase activity in mouse locus coeruleus during postnatal development.

Administration of corticosterone (10 mg/kg, ip, twice daily for 3 days) to mice during the second week of postnatal development led to an increase of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) activity in the locus coeruleus, but not in the substantia nigra. The corticosterone effect was observed only transiently during this developmental period. Tritiated corticosterone can bind to a cytosol fraction prepared from mouse locus coeruleus, with a specific binding capacity of 110 fmol/mg protein. There is a correlation between the ability of various steroids to increase TH activity and their binding to the cytosol glucocorticoid receptor. Cortexolone and progesterone, two antiglucocorticoids that can bind to the cytosol receptor, were found to abolish the effect of corticosterone in increasing TH activity. It appears that the noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus may be target cells for glucocorticoids, and that the glucocorticoid effect on TH may be a receptor-mediated mechanism.