Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Mol Psychiatry. 2023 Feb;28(2):611-624. doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01820-3. Epub 2022 Oct 12.
Adolescent stress is a risk factor for schizophrenia. Emerging evidence suggests that age-dependent sensitive windows for childhood trauma are associated more strongly with adult psychosis, but the neurobiological basis and potential sex differences are unknown.Using in vivo electrophysiology and immunohistology in rats, we systematically compared the effects of two age-defined adolescent stress paradigms, prepubertal (postnatal day [PD] 21-30; PreP-S) and postpubertal (PD41-50; PostP-S) foot-shock and restraint combined stress, on ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopaminergic activity, pyramidal neuron activity in the ventral hippocampus (vHipp) and the basolateral amygdala (BLA), corticoamygdalar functional inhibitory control, and vHipp and BLA parvalbumin interneuron (PVI) impairments. These endpoints were selected based on their well-documented roles in the pathophysiology of psychosis.Overall, we found distinct sex- and exposure age-dependent stress vulnerability. Specifically, while males were selectively vulnerable to PreP-S-induced adult VTA dopamine neuron and vHipp hyperactivities, females were selectively vulnerable to PostP-S. These male selective PreP-S effects were correlated with stress-induced aberrant persistent BLA hyperactivity, dysfunctional prefrontal inhibitory control of BLA neurons, and vHipp/BLA PVI impairments. In contrast, female PostP-S only produced vHipp PVI impairments in adults, with the BLA structure and functions largely unaffected.Our results indicated distinct adolescent-sensitive periods during which stress can sex-dependently confer maximal risks to corticolimbic systems to drive dopamine hyperactivity, which provide critical insights into the neurobiological basis for sex-biased stress-related psychopathologies emphasizing but not limited to schizophrenia. Furthermore, our work also provides a framework for future translational research on age-sensitive targeted interventions.
青少年压力是精神分裂症的一个风险因素。新出现的证据表明,与成年精神病相关的儿童创伤的年龄依赖性敏感窗口更强,但神经生物学基础和潜在的性别差异尚不清楚。使用活体电生理学和免疫组织化学方法在大鼠中,我们系统地比较了两种年龄定义的青少年应激范式(青春期前(出生后第 21-30 天;PreP-S)和青春期后(第 41-50 天;PostP-S)电击和束缚联合应激)对腹侧被盖区(VTA)多巴胺能活动、腹侧海马(vHipp)和基底外侧杏仁核(BLA)中的锥体神经元活动、皮质杏仁核功能抑制控制以及 vHipp 和 BLA 中 Parvalbumin 中间神经元(PVI)的损伤的影响。这些终点是基于它们在精神病病理生理学中的已知作用选择的。总体而言,我们发现了明显的性别和暴露年龄依赖性的应激易感性。具体来说,虽然雄性对 PreP-S 诱导的成年 VTA 多巴胺神经元和 vHipp 过度活跃有选择性易感性,但雌性对 PostP-S 有选择性易感性。这些雄性选择性的 PreP-S 效应与应激诱导的 BLA 异常持续过度活跃、前额叶抑制控制 BLA 神经元的功能障碍以及 vHipp/BLA PVI 损伤有关。相比之下,雌性 PostP-S 仅在成年时引起 vHipp PVI 损伤,而 BLA 结构和功能基本不受影响。我们的研究结果表明,在青少年时期存在不同的敏感时期,在这些时期中,压力可以以性别依赖的方式对皮质边缘系统产生最大的风险,从而为性别偏见的应激相关精神病理学的神经生物学基础提供重要的见解,强调但不限于精神分裂症。此外,我们的工作还为年龄敏感的靶向干预的未来转化研究提供了框架。
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