ABSTRACT
Neural stimulation of the adrenal medulla may be mimicked by the administration of reserpine or insulin. Insulin and reserpine induced synthesis of enkephalins, dopamine β-hydoxylase, the amine carrier, and chromogranin B. The level of chromogranin A was dependent on corticosteroids. Neurons to the adrenal medulla were located most laterally in the intermediolateral nucleus. The efferent projections of identified neurons were target-specific, with no neurons identified as innervating both the cervical sympathetic chain and the adrenal medulla. Both populations of neurons were opposed by varicosities immunoreactive for either serotonin or somatostatin. Donnerer used capsaicin to destroy C-fiber afferents in newborn rats and later tested the activation of the adrenal gland during hypoglycemia, hypotension, and hypovolemia. Various investigators have used electrical stimulation or creation of lesions in regions within the central nervous system as a means of evaluating central nervous system control of adrenal medullary secretion.
