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Stathmin reveals dissociable roles of the basolateral amygdala in parental and social behaviors.

ABSTRACT: Innate parental behaviors and adult social interactions are essential for survival of the individual along with the species as a whole. Because these behaviors require threat assessment of the environment, it is plausible that they are regulated by the amygdala-associated neural circuitry of fear. However, the amygdala is not a single anatomic and functional unit, and nuclei of the amygdala have multiple inter- and intra-connections. This poses a question as to the exact role of different amygdala nuclei in these behaviors and the mechanisms involved. The basolateral complex of the amygdala nuclei (BLA) is particularly interesting in this regard: although the BLA role in forming memories for learned fear is established, the BLA role in innate behaviors is not well understood. We recently demonstrated that mice without an inhibitor of microtubules, stathmin, a gene enriched in BLA-associated circuitry, have deficiency in innate and learned fear. Here we show that the deficiency in fear processing in stathmin(-/-) females leads to improper threat assessment, which in turn affects innate parental care and adult social interactions. Profound deficiency is observed in maternal behavior of stathmin(-/-) females: they lack motivation for retrieving pups and are unable to choose a safe location for nest-building. Remarkably, stathmin(-/-) females have an enhancement in social interactions. BLA lesions in WT mice produce similar effects in maternal and social behaviors, confirming vital BLA participation. The findings implicate stathmin as the critical molecular component linking the BLA-associated neural circuitry with innate parental behaviors and adult social interactions.

SUBMITTER: Martel G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2567152 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Stathmin reveals dissociable roles of the basolateral amygdala in parental and social behaviors.

Martel Guillaume G Nishi Akinori A Shumyatsky Gleb P GP

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20080915 38

Innate parental behaviors and adult social interactions are essential for survival of the individual along with the species as a whole. Because these behaviors require threat assessment of the environment, it is plausible that they are regulated by the amygdala-associated neural circuitry of fear. However, the amygdala is not a single anatomic and functional unit, and nuclei of the amygdala have multiple inter- and intra-connections. This poses a question as to the exact role of different amygda ...[more]

PMID: 18794533

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Project description:Adolescence is a developmental period marked by robust neural alterations and heightened vulnerability to stress, a factor that is highly associated with increased risk for emotional processing deficits, such as anxiety. Stress-induced upregulation of the dynorphin/kappa opioid receptor (DYN/KOP) system is thought to, in part, underlie the negative affect associated with stress. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is a key structure involved in anxiety, and neuromodulatory systems, such as the DYN/KOP system, can 1) regulate BLA neural activity in an age-dependent manner in stress-naïve animals and 2) underlie stress-induced anxiety in adults. However, the role of the DYN/KOP system in modulating stress-induced anxiety in adolescents is unknown. To test this, we examined the impact of an acute, 2-day forced swim stress (FSS - 10 min each day) on adolescent (~postnatal day (P) 35) and adult Sprague-Dawley rats (~P70), followed by behavioral, molecular and electrophysiological assessment 24 h following FSS. Adolescent males, but not adult males or females of either age, demonstrated social anxiety-like behavioral alterations indexed via significantly reduced social investigation and preference when tested 24 h following FSS. Conversely, adult males exhibited increased social preference. While there were no FSS-induced changes in expression of genes related to the DYN/KOP system in the BLA, these behavioral alterations were associated with alterations in BLA KOP function. Specifically, while GABA transmission in BLA pyramidal neurons from non-stressed adolescent males responded variably (potentiated, suppressed, or was unchanged) to the KOP agonist, U69593, U69593 significantly inhibited BLA GABA transmission in the majority of neurons from stressed adolescent males, consistent with the observed anxiogenic phenotype in stressed adolescent males. This is the first study to demonstrate stress-induced alterations in BLA KOP function that may contribute to stress-induced social anxiety in adolescent males. Importantly, these findings provide evidence for potential KOP-dependent mechanisms that may contribute to pathophysiological interactions with subsequent stress challenges.

Dataset Information

Stathmin reveals dissociable roles of the basolateral amygdala in parental and social behaviors.

Publications

Stathmin reveals dissociable roles of the basolateral amygdala in parental and social behaviors.

Similar Datasets

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