Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland.
J Physiol Pharmacol. 2011 Aug;62(4):473-82.
In this paper, we studied differences in the density of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor GluN2B subunits in the brains of low (LR) and high (HR) anxiety rats subjected to extinction trials and re-learning of a conditioned fear response, modeling a natural course of anxiety disorders. Classifications of animals as LR or HR was determined by fear-induced freezing responses in the contextual fear test. Increased basal concentrations of GluN2B subunits were observed in the amygdala of HR rats as compared to the unconditioned control group by Western blot analysis. Re-exposure of HR animals to the fear-conditioned context resulted in elevated concentrations of GluN2B subunits in the amygdala, hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex compared to LR rats as well as in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex vs. the control group. In addition, it was shown that re-test of a conditioned fear increased the number of cells expressing GluN2B subunits in the basolateral amygdala, dentate gyrus of the hippocampus and secondary motor cortex (M2) in the HR group relative to the LR group. Together, these data suggest that animals that are more anxious have altered patterns of GluN2B subunit expression in the frontal cortex and limbic structures, which control emotional behaviour.
在这项研究中，我们研究了在消退试验和条件性恐惧反应重新学习中，低（LR）和高（HR）焦虑大鼠大脑中 N-甲基-D-天冬氨酸（NMDA）受体 GluN2B 亚基密度的差异，模拟了焦虑障碍的自然病程。通过情境恐惧测试中恐惧引起的冻结反应，将动物分类为 LR 或 HR。Western blot 分析显示，与未训练对照组相比，HR 大鼠杏仁核中的 GluN2B 亚基基础浓度增加。与 LR 大鼠以及与对照组相比，HR 动物重新暴露于恐惧条件化环境中导致杏仁核、海马体和前额叶皮质中的 GluN2B 亚基浓度升高，以及海马体和前额叶皮质中的 GluN2B 亚基浓度升高。此外，研究还表明，与 LR 组相比，重新测试条件性恐惧增加了 HR 组中杏仁核基底外侧核、海马齿状回和次级运动皮层（M2）中表达 GluN2B 亚基的细胞数量。综上所述，这些数据表明，更焦虑的动物在控制情绪行为的前额叶皮层和边缘结构中，GluN2B 亚基表达模式发生了改变。
