Dataset Information

Reduced Information Transmission of Medial Prefrontal Cortex to Basolateral Amygdala Inhibits Exploratory Behavior in Depressed Rats.

ABSTRACT: Depression is a mental and neurological disease that reduces the desire for exploration. Dysregulation of the information transmission between medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) is associated with depression. However, which direction of information transmission (mPFC-BLA or BLA-mPFC) related to the decline of exploratory interests in depression is unclear. Therefore, it is important to determine what specific changes occur in mPFC and BLA information transmission in depressed rats during exploratory behavior. In the present study, local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded via multi-electrodes implanted in the mPFC and BLA for the control and depression groups of rats when they were exploring in an open field. The theta band was determined to be the characteristic band of exploratory behavior. The direct transfer function (DTF) was used to calculate the mPFC and BLA bidirectional information flow (IF) to measure information transmission. Compared with the control group, the theta IF of mPFC-BLA in the depression group was significantly reduced, and there was no significant difference in theta IF of BLA-mPFC between the two groups. Our results indicated that the reduction of mPFC-BLA information transmission can inhibit the exploratory behavior of depressed rats.

SUBMITTER: Qi C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7744617 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Reduced Information Transmission of Medial Prefrontal Cortex to Basolateral Amygdala Inhibits Exploratory Behavior in Depressed Rats.

Qi Chengxi C Wang Zihe Z Bai Wenwen W Liu Tiaotiao T Zheng Xuyuan X

Frontiers in neuroscience 20201203

Depression is a mental and neurological disease that reduces the desire for exploration. Dysregulation of the information transmission between medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) is associated with depression. However, which direction of information transmission (mPFC-BLA or BLA-mPFC) related to the decline of exploratory interests in depression is unclear. Therefore, it is important to determine what specific changes occur in mPFC and BLA information transmission in d ...[more]

PMID: 33343292

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Project description:The ability to inhibit drinking is a significant challenge for recovering alcoholics, especially in the presence of alcohol-associated cues. Previous studies have demonstrated that the regulation of cue-guided alcohol seeking is mediated by the basolateral amygdala (BLA), nucleus accumbens (NAc), and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). However, given the high interconnectivity between these structures, it is unclear how mPFC projections to each subcortical structure, as well as projections between BLA and NAc, mediate alcohol-seeking behaviors. Here, we evaluate how cortico-striatal, cortico-amygdalar, and amygdalo-striatal projections control extinction and relapse in a rat model of alcohol seeking. Specifically, we used a combinatorial viral technique to express diphtheria toxin receptors in specific neuron populations based on their projection targets. We then used this strategy to create directionally selective ablations of three distinct pathways after acquisition of ethanol self-administration but before extinction and reinstatement. We demonstrate that ablation of mPFC neurons projecting to NAc, but not BLA, blocks cue-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking and neither pathway is necessary for extinction of responding. Further, we show that ablating BLA neurons that project to NAc disrupts extinction of alcohol approach behaviors and attenuates reinstatement. Together, these data provide evidence that the mPFC→NAc pathway is necessary for cue-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking, expand our understanding of how the BLA→NAc pathway regulates alcohol behavior, and introduce a new methodology for the manipulation of target-specific neural projections.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The vast majority of recovering alcoholics will relapse at least once and understanding how the brain regulates relapse will be key to developing more effective behavior and pharmacological therapies for alcoholism. Given the high interconnectivity of cortical, striatal, and limbic structures that regulate alcohol intake, it has been difficult to disentangle how separate projections between them may control different aspects of these complex behaviors. Here, we demonstrate a new approach for noninvasively ablating each of these pathways and testing their necessity for both extinction and relapse. We show that inputs to the nucleus accumbens from medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala regulate alcohol-seeking behaviors differentially, adding to our understanding of the neural control of alcoholism.

Dataset Information

Reduced Information Transmission of Medial Prefrontal Cortex to Basolateral Amygdala Inhibits Exploratory Behavior in Depressed Rats.

Publications

Reduced Information Transmission of Medial Prefrontal Cortex to Basolateral Amygdala Inhibits Exploratory Behavior in Depressed Rats.

Similar Datasets

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