摘要Restraint water-immersion stress (RWIS),a compound stress model,has been widely used to induce acute gastric ulceration in rats.A wealth of evidence suggests that the central nucleus of the amygdala (CEA) is a focal region for mediating the biological response to stress.Different stressors induce distinct alterations of neuronal activity in the CEA;however,few studies have reported the characteristics of CEA neuronal activity induced by RWIS.Therefore,we explored this issue using immunohistochemistry and in vivo extracellular single-unit recording.Our results showed that RWIS and restraint stress (RS) differentially changed the c-Fos expression and firing properties of neurons in the medial CEA.In addition,RWIS,but not RS,induced the activation of corticotropin-releasing hormone neurons in the CEA.These findings suggested that specific neuronal activation in the CEA is involved in the formation of RWIS-induced gastric ulcers.This study also provides a possible theoretical explanation for the different gastric dysfunctions induced by different stressors.