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Nicotinic receptors promote susceptibility to social stress in female mice linked with neuroadaptations within VTA dopamine neurons.

ABSTRACT: There are about twice as many women as men who experience depression during their lifetime. Although life circumstances and especially exposure to stressful situations constitute a major risk factor to develop depression, the underlying mechanisms have yet to be unraveled. We employed the chronic social defeat procedure to elicit depressive-like symptoms in females and ketamine to validate the model. We performed ex-vivo patch clamp recordings to assess cellular adaptations and used pharmacological agents to dissect these deregulations. Chronic social defeat exposure triggers a hyperactivity of VTA putative dopamine (DA) neurons in females susceptible to stress but not resilient ones. This hyperactivity was fully reversed by a single administration of ketamine. In virally-identified brain circuits of both susceptible and resilient females, we found a hypercholinergic tone to the VTA arising from the laterodorsal tegmentum. Application of puffs of nicotine revealed a decreased sensitivity of DA neurons in resilient mice when compared to naive or susceptible ones. The in vivo acute administration of the positive allosteric modulator for α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) not only increased susceptibility to stress by enhancing activity of VTA DA neurons, but also triggered a switch in phenotype from resilient to susceptible. Our data unravel dysregulations of VTA DA neurons activity exclusively in females exhibiting depressive-like symptoms and identify VTA nAChRs as key molecular substrates that exacerbate susceptibility to stress.

SUBMITTER: Ortiz V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9283477 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Alpha6-containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are primarily found in neurons of the midbrain dopaminergic (DA) system, suggesting these receptors are potentially involved in drug reward and dependence. Here, we report a novel effect that cocaine directly inhibits ?6N/?3C?2?3-nAChR (?6*-nAChRs) function. Human ?6*-nAChRs were heterologously expressed within cells of the SH-EP1 cell line for functional characterization. Mechanically dissociated DA neurons from mouse ventral tegmental area (VTA) were used as a model of presynaptic ?6*-nAChR activation since this method preserves terminal boutons. Patch-clamp recordings in whole-cell configuration were used to measure ?6*-nAChR function as well as evaluate the effects of cocaine. In SH-EP1 cells containing heterologously expressed human ?6*-nAChRs, cocaine inhibits nicotine-induced inward currents in a concentration-dependent manner with an IC50 value of 30 ?M. Interestingly, in the presence of 30 ?M cocaine, the maximal current response of the nicotine concentration-response curve is reduced without changing nicotine's EC50 value, suggesting a noncompetitive mechanism. Furthermore, analysis of whole-cell current kinetics demonstrated that cocaine slows nAChR channel activation but accelerates whole-cell current decay time. Our findings demonstrate that cocaine-induced inhibition occurs solely with bath application, but not during intracellular administration, and this inhibition is not use-dependent. Additionally, in Xenopus oocytes, cocaine inhibits both ?6N/?3C?2?3-nAChRs and ?6M211L/?3IC?2?3-nCAhRs similarly, suggesting that cocaine may not act on the ?3 transmembrane domain of chimeric ?6N/?3C?2?3-nAChR. In mechanically isolated VTA DA neurons, cocaine abolishes ?6*-nAChR-mediated enhancement of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs). Collectively, these studies provide the first evidence that cocaine directly inhibits the function of both heterologously and naturally expressed ?6*-nAChRs. These findings suggest that ?6*-nAChRs may provide a novel pharmacological target mediating the effects of cocaine and may underlie a novel mechanism of cocaine reward and dependence.

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Nicotinic receptors promote susceptibility to social stress in female mice linked with neuroadaptations within VTA dopamine neurons.

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