The habenula as a critical node in chronic stress-related anxiety
| Autor: | L. R. Jacinto, Rui Troncado Mata, Fernanda Marques, Ashley Cruz Novais, Nuno Sousa |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Universidade do Minho |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
Male
0301 basic medicine Silver Staining Stereology Anxiety Stress Electrolysis Statistics Nonparametric Medicina Clínica [Ciências Médicas] 03 medical and health sciences chemistry.chemical_compound 0302 clinical medicine Atrophy Developmental Neuroscience Corticosterone Cell density medicine Animals Chronic stress Rats Wistar Maze Learning Lateral habenula Ciências Médicas::Medicina Clínica Neurons Habenula Science & Technology medicine.disease Rats Disease Models Animal 030104 developmental biology Neurology chemistry Chronic Disease medicine.symptom Psychology Neuroglia Neuroscience Stress Psychological 030217 neurology & neurosurgery |
| Zdroj: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP) instacron:RCAAP |
| Popis: | The habenula is activated in response to stressful and aversive events, resulting in exploratory inhibition. Although possible mechanisms for habenula activation have been proposed, the effects of chronic stress on the habenular structure have never been studied. Herein, we assessed changes in volume, cell density and dendritic structure of habenular cells after chronic stress exposure using stereological and 3D morphological analysis. This study shows for the first time that there is a hemispherical asymmetry in the medial habenula (MHb) of the adult rat, with the right MHb containing more neurons than its left counterpart. Additionally, it shows that chronic stress induces a bilateral atrophy of both the MHb and the lateral habenula (LHb). This atrophy was accompanied by a reduction of the number of neurons in the right MHb and the number of glial cells in the bilateral LHb, but not by changes in the dendritic arbors of multipolar neurons. Importantly, these structural changes were correlated with elevated levels of serum corticosterone and increased anxious-like behavior in stressed animals. To further assess the role of the habenula in stress-related anxiety, bilateral lesions of the LHb were performed; interestingly, in lesioned animals the chronic stress protocol did not trigger increases in circulating corticosterone or anxious-like behavior. This study highlights the role of the habenula in the stress responses and how its sub-regions are structurally impacted by chronic stress with physiological and behavioral consequences. Prof. Sharif Taha formerly of University of Utah for providing training and technical expertise on habenula research; Ana Lima and Mónica Dias for histological processing of samples; and Diana Afonso and Ana Veloso for help with the stress protocol. LRJ was supported by fellowships: UMINHO/BPD/27/2013 funded by CCDR-N and Programa Operacional Região Norte (ON.2) from QREN/FEDER; 2014/CON3/CAN23 from Fundação Luso-Americana; and UMINHO/BPD/63/2015 from Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian funded project (contract grant number P-139977). AN was supported by a fellowship from project ANR/NEU-OSD/0258/2012 funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) and Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR). Financial support for this work was provided by FEDER funds through the Operational Programme Competitiveness Factors - COMPETE and National Funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology under the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007038; and by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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