Department of General Zoology and Neurobiology, ND7/31, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, D-44780, Bochum, Germany.
Transl Psychiatry. 2022 Nov 19;12(1):487. doi: 10.1038/s41398-022-02252-x.
Serotonin 2C receptors (5-HT2CRs) are widely distributed throughout the brain and are strongly implicated in the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although in recent years, a considerable amount of evidence supports 5-HT2CRs facilitating effect on anxiety behavior, the involvement in learned fear responses and fear extinction is rather unexplored. Here, we used a 5-HT2CR knock-out mouse line (2CKO) to gain new insights into the involvement of 5-HT2CRs in the neuronal fear circuitry. Using a cued fear conditioning paradigm, our results revealed that global loss of 5-HT2CRs exclusively accelerates fear extinction, without affecting fear acquisition and fear expression. To investigate the neuronal substrates underlying the extinction enhancing effect, we mapped the immediate-early gene product cFos, a marker for neuronal activity, in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). Surprisingly, besides extinction-associated changes, our results revealed alterations in neuronal activity even under basal home cage conditions in specific subregions of the DRN and the BNST in 2CKO mice. Neuronal activity in the dorsal BNST was shifted in an extinction-supporting direction due to 5-HT2CR knock-out. Finally, the assessment of DRN-BNST connectivity using antero- and retrograde tracing techniques uncovered a discrete serotonergic pathway projecting from the most caudal subregion of the DRN (DRC) to the anterodorsal portion of the BNST (BNSTad). This serotonergic DRC-BNSTad pathway showed increased neuronal activity in 2CKO mice. Thus, our results provide new insights for the fear extinction network by revealing a specific serotonergic DRC-BNSTad pathway underlying a 5-HT2CR-sensitive mechanism with high significance in the treatment of PTSD.
5-羟色胺 2C 受体(5-HT2CRs)广泛分布于大脑中,强烈参与焦虑症的病理生理学,如创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)。尽管近年来,相当多的证据支持 5-HT2CRs 对焦虑行为有促进作用,但它们在习得性恐惧反应和恐惧消退中的作用仍未得到充分探索。在这里,我们使用了 5-HT2CR 敲除小鼠品系(2CKO),以深入了解 5-HT2CRs 在神经元恐惧回路中的作用。使用条件性恐惧训练范式,我们的结果表明,5-HT2CR 的整体缺失仅加速了恐惧消退,而不影响恐惧获得和恐惧表达。为了研究增强恐惧消退的神经元基础,我们绘制了即时早期基因产物 cFos 的图谱,cFos 是神经元活动的标志物,在中缝背核(DRN)、杏仁核和终纹床核(BNST)中。令人惊讶的是,除了与消退相关的变化外,我们的结果还揭示了 2CKO 小鼠 DRN 和 BNST 的特定亚区在基础笼内条件下的神经元活动改变。由于 5-HT2CR 敲除,背侧 BNST 的神经元活动向支持消退的方向转变。最后,使用顺行和逆行示踪技术评估 DRN-BNST 连接,发现了一条从 DRN 的最尾侧亚区(DRC)投射到 BNST 前背侧部分(BNSTad)的离散 5-羟色胺能通路。2CKO 小鼠中这条 5-羟色胺能 DRC-BNSTad 通路的神经元活动增加。因此,我们的研究结果通过揭示一个特定的 5-羟色胺能 DRC-BNSTad 通路,为恐惧消退网络提供了新的见解,该通路是一个 5-HT2CR 敏感的机制,在 PTSD 的治疗中有很高的意义。