Wallace Tyler, Myers Brent
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States.
Front Behav Neurosci. 2021 Aug 26;15:737960. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.737960. eCollection 2021.
The ventral portion of the medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) regulates mood, sociability, and context-dependent behaviors. Consequently, altered vmPFC activity has been implicated in the biological basis of emotional disorders. Recent methodological advances have greatly enhanced the ability to investigate how specific prefrontal cell populations regulate mood-related behaviors, as well as the impact of long-term stress on vmPFC function. However, emerging preclinical data identify prominent sexual divergence in vmPFC behavioral regulation and stress responsivity. Notably, the rodent infralimbic cortex (IL), a vmPFC subregion critical for anti-depressant action, shows marked functional divergence between males and females. Accordingly, this review examines IL encoding and modulation of mood-related behaviors, including coping style, reward, and sociability, with a focus on sex-based outcomes. We also review how these processes are impacted by prolonged stress exposure. Collectively, the data suggest that chronic stress has sex-specific effects on IL excitatory/inhibitory balance that may account for sex differences in the prevalence and course of mood disorders.
内侧前额叶皮质（vmPFC）的腹侧部分调节情绪、社交能力和依赖情境的行为。因此，vmPFC活动的改变与情绪障碍的生物学基础有关。最近的方法学进展极大地增强了研究特定前额叶细胞群如何调节与情绪相关行为的能力，以及长期应激对vmPFC功能的影响。然而，新出现的临床前数据表明，vmPFC行为调节和应激反应存在显著的性别差异。值得注意的是，啮齿动物的边缘下皮质（IL）是vmPFC中对抗抑郁作用至关重要的一个亚区域，在雄性和雌性之间表现出明显的功能差异。因此，本综述探讨了IL对与情绪相关行为的编码和调节，包括应对方式、奖赏和社交能力，并重点关注基于性别的结果。我们还回顾了长期应激暴露如何影响这些过程。总体而言，数据表明慢性应激对IL兴奋性/抑制性平衡具有性别特异性影响，这可能解释了情绪障碍患病率和病程中的性别差异。
