Circuit- and laminar-specific regulation of medial prefrontal neurons by chronic stress

Cell & Bioscience

Research

Wei-Xiang Zhong¹  Mei-Ting Cai¹  Bing-Xing Pan²  Wei-Zhu Liu²  Yu Wang²  Zhi-Hao Wang²  Chun-Yan Wang²  Tian Liu²  Wen-Hua Zhang³  Han-Qing Pan⁴ 

[1] Department of Biological Science, School of Life Science, Nanchang University, 330031, Nanchang, China;Department of Biological Science, School of Life Science, Nanchang University, 330031, Nanchang, China;Laboratory of Fear and Anxiety Disorders, Institutes of Life Science, Nanchang University, 330031, Nanchang, China;Department of Biological Science, School of Life Science, Nanchang University, 330031, Nanchang, China;Laboratory of Fear and Anxiety Disorders, Institutes of Life Science, Nanchang University, 330031, Nanchang, China;Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Science, Nanchang University, 330031, Nanchang, People’s Republic of China;Laboratory of Fear and Anxiety Disorders, Institutes of Life Science, Nanchang University, 330031, Nanchang, China;

关键词: Chronic stress;    Synaptic transmission;    Neuronal circuit;    Prefrontal cortex;    Amygdala;    Anxiety;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13578-023-01050-2

 received in 2023-03-06, accepted in 2023-05-07,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundChronic stress exposure increases the risk of mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is a hub for controlling stress responses through communicating with multiple limbic structures, including the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and nucleus accumbens (NAc). However, considering the complex topographical organization of the mPFC neurons in different subregions (dmPFC vs. vmPFC) and across multiple layers (Layer II/III vs. Layer V), the exact effects of chronic stress on these distinct mPFC output neurons remain largely unknown.ResultsWe first characterized the topographical organization of mPFC neurons projecting to BLA and NAc. Then, by using a typical mouse model of chronic restraint stress (CRS), we investigated the effects of chronic stress on the synaptic activity and intrinsic properties of the two mPFC neuronal populations. Our results showed that there was limited collateralization of the BLA- and NAc-projecting pyramidal neurons, regardless of the subregion or layer they were situated in. CRS significantly reduced the inhibitory synaptic transmission onto the BLA-projecting neurons in dmPFC layer V without any effect on the excitatory synaptic transmission, thus leading to a shift of the excitation-inhibition (E-I) balance toward excitation. However, CRS did not affect the E-I balance in NAc-projecting neurons in any subregions or layers of mPFC. Moreover, CRS also preferentially increased the intrinsic excitability of the BLA-projecting neurons in dmPFC layer V. By contrast, it even caused a decreasing tendency in the excitability of NAc-projecting neurons in vmPFC layer II/III.ConclusionOur findings indicate that chronic stress exposure preferentially modulates the activity of the mPFC-BLA circuit in a subregion (dmPFC) and laminar (layer V) -dependent manner.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

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