Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Center for Neurobiology of Stress Resilience and Psychiatric Disorders, The Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, 3333 Green Bay Road, North Chicago, IL, 60064, USA.
Sci Rep. 2018 Nov 21;8(1):17171. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-35649-0.
Cognitive regulation of emotion develops from childhood into adulthood. This occurs in parallel with maturation of prefrontal cortical (PFC) regulation over the amygdala. The cellular substrates for this regulation may include PFC activation of inhibitory GABAergic elements in the amygdala. The purpose of this study was to determine whether PFC regulation over basolateral amygdala area (BLA) in vivo is immature in adolescence, and if this is due to immaturity of GABAergic elements or PFC excitatory inputs. Using in vivo extracellular electrophysiological recordings from anesthetized male rats we found that in vivo summation of PFC inputs to the BLA was less regulated by GABAergic inhibition in adolescents (postnatal day 39) than adults (postnatal day 72-75). In addition, stimulation of either prelimbic or infralimbic PFC evokes weaker inhibition over basal (BA) and lateral (LAT) nuclei of the BLA in adolescents. This was dictated by both weak recruitment of inhibition in LAT and weak excitatory effects of PFC in BA. The current results may contribute to differences in adolescent cognitive regulation of emotion. These findings identify specific elements that undergo adolescent maturation and may therefore be sensitive to environmental disruptions that increase risk for psychiatric disorders.
情绪的认知调节从儿童期发展到成年期。这与前额叶皮层（PFC）对杏仁核的调节成熟并行发生。这种调节的细胞基础可能包括 PFC 对杏仁核中抑制性 GABA 能元件的激活。本研究的目的是确定 PFC 对活体中杏仁核基底外侧区（BLA）的调节在青春期是否不成熟，如果是由于 GABA 能元件或 PFC 兴奋性输入的不成熟所致。使用来自麻醉雄性大鼠的活体细胞外电生理记录，我们发现，在青春期（出生后第 39 天），活体中 PFC 输入到 BLA 的总和受到 GABA 能抑制的调节程度不如成年期（出生后第 72-75 天）。此外，刺激前额叶皮层的扣带回前部或下托区会引起青春期 BLA 的基底（BA）和外侧（LAT）核抑制减弱。这是由 LAT 中抑制的弱募集和 BA 中 PFC 的弱兴奋作用共同决定的。目前的结果可能有助于解释青少年情绪认知调节的差异。这些发现确定了特定的元素在青春期成熟，因此可能对增加精神障碍风险的环境干扰敏感。
