Discipline of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, The Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University, North Chicago, IL, 60064, USA.
AbbVie, Inc., 1 North Waukegan Road, North Chicago, IL, 60064, USA.
Sci Rep. 2019 Aug 23;9(1):12292. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48683-3.
Stress is a precipitating factor in depression and anxiety disorders. Patients with these disorders often show amygdala abnormalities. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is integral in mood and emotion, and is sensitive to stress. While much is known about effects of stress on BLA neuron activity and morphology in males, less is known in females. We tested whether repeated stress exerts distinct effects on BLA in vivo neuronal activity and morphology of Golgi-stained BLA neurons [lateral (LAT) and basal (BA) nuclei] in adult female rats. Repeated restraint stress increased BLA neuronal firing and caused hypertrophy of BLA neurons in males, while it decreased LAT and BA neuronal firing and caused hypotrophy of neurons in the LAT of females. BLA neuronal activity and function, such as fear conditioning, shifts across the estrous cycle. Repeated stress disrupted this pattern of BLA activity and fear expression over the estrous cycle. The disruptive effects of stress on the pattern of BLA function across estrous may produce behavior that is non-optimal for a specific phase of the estrous cycle. The contrasting effects of stress may contribute to sex differences in the effects of stress on mood and psychiatric disorders.
压力是抑郁和焦虑障碍的诱发因素。患有这些疾病的患者通常表现出杏仁核异常。基底外侧杏仁核（BLA）在情绪和情感中起着重要作用，对压力敏感。虽然人们已经了解了压力对雄性 BLA 神经元活动和形态的影响，但对雌性的了解较少。我们测试了重复的应激是否会对成年雌性大鼠的 BLA 活体神经元活动和高尔基染色的 BLA 神经元（外侧（LAT）和基底（BA）核）形态产生不同的影响。重复束缚应激增加了雄性 BLA 神经元的放电活动，并导致 BLA 神经元肥大，而在雌性中，它降低了 LAT 和 BA 神经元的放电活动，并导致 LAT 神经元的萎缩。BLA 神经元的活动和功能，如恐惧条件反射，在发情周期中发生变化。重复的应激会破坏发情周期中 BLA 活动和恐惧表达的这种模式。应激对发情周期中 BLA 功能模式的破坏作用可能会导致行为在发情周期的特定阶段不理想。应激的这种对比作用可能导致应激对情绪和精神障碍的影响存在性别差异。
