Ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus in regulation of stress-induced gastric mucosal injury in rats

Previous studies showed that restraint water-immersion stress (RWIS) increases the expression of Fos protein in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH), indicating the VMH involving in the stress-induced gastric mucosal injury (SGMI). The present study was designed to investigate its possible neuro-regulatory mechanisms in rats receiving either VMH lesions or sham surgery. The model for SGMI was developed by restraint and water (21 ± 1 °C) immersion for 2 h. Gastric mucosal injury index, gastric motility, gastric acid secretion and Fos expression in the hypothalamus and brainstem were examined on the 15th postoperative day in RWIS rats. Gastric mucosal injury in VMH-lesioned rats was obviously aggravated compared to the control. Gastric acidity under RWIS was obviously higher in VMH-lesioned rats than that in sham rats. Meantime, the VMH-lesioned rats exhibited marked increases in the amplitude of gastric motility in the VMH lesions group after RWIS. In VMH-lesioned rats, Fos expression significantly increased in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV), the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), the area postrema (AP), the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and the supraoptic nucleus (SON) in response to RWIS. These results indicate that VMH lesions can aggravate the stress-induced gastric mucosal injury through the VMH-dorsal vagal complex (DVC)-vagal nerve pathway.