Adolescent Social Stress Produces an Enduring Activation of the Rat Locus Coeruleus and Alters its Coherence with the Prefrontal Cortex.

ABSTRACT: Early life stress is associated with the development of psychiatric disorders. Because the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system is a major stress-response system that is implicated in psychopathology, developmental differences in the response of this system to stress may contribute to increased vulnerability. Here LC single unit and network activity were compared between adult and adolescent rats during resident-intruder stress. In some rats, LC and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) coherence was quantified. The initial stress tonically activated LC neurons and induced theta oscillations, while simultaneously decreasing LC auditory-evoked responses in both age groups. Stress increased LC-mPFC coherence within the theta range. With repeated exposures, adolescent LC neuronal and netwo

SUBMITTER: Zitnik GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4793122 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature