Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, UMR 7291, Marseilles, France.
Eur J Neurosci. 2018 Apr;47(8):1003-1012. doi: 10.1111/ejn.13887. Epub 2018 Mar 25.
The stress response serves vital adaptive functions. However, acute stress episodes often negatively impact cognitive processing. Here, we aimed to elucidate whether stress detrimentally affects the head-direction cells of the postsubiculum, which may in turn impair downstream spatial information processing. We recorded neurons in the rats' postsubiculum during a pellet-chasing task during baseline non-stress conditions and after a 30-min acute photic stress exposure. Based on their baseline firing rate, we identified a subpopulation of head-direction cells that drastically decreased its firing rate as a response to stress while preserving their head directionality. The remaining population of head-direction cells as well as other neurons recorded in the postsubiculum were unaffected. The observed altered activity in the subpopulation might be the basis for spatial processing deficits observed following acute stress episodes.
应激反应具有重要的适应功能。然而，急性应激发作常常对认知加工产生负面影响。在这里，我们旨在阐明应激是否会对下托细胞的头方向细胞产生不利影响，而这可能会反过来损害下游的空间信息处理。我们在基线非应激条件下和 30 分钟急性光应激暴露后，在大鼠的下托中记录神经元在颗粒追逐任务期间的活动。根据它们的基础放电率，我们确定了一个亚群的头方向细胞，这些细胞作为应激的反应，其放电率急剧下降，同时保持它们的头方向性。其余的头方向细胞亚群以及在下托中记录的其他神经元不受影响。观察到的亚群活动的改变可能是急性应激发作后观察到的空间处理缺陷的基础。
