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Lei H, Shu H, Xiong R, He T, Lv J, Liu J, Pi G, Ke D, Wang Q, Yang X, Wang JZ, Yang Y. Poststress social isolation exerts anxiolytic effects by activating the ventral dentate gyrus. Neurobiol Stress 2023; 24:100537. [PMID: 37081927 PMCID: PMC10112178 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2023.100537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2022] [Revised: 03/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/25/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
After aversive stress, people either choose to return to their previously familiar social environment or tend to adopt temporary social withdrawal to buffer negative emotions. However, which behavior intervention is more appropriate and when remain elusive. Here, we unexpectedly found that stressed mice experiencing social isolation exhibited less anxiety than those experiencing social contact. Within the first 24 h after returning to their previous social environment, mice experienced acute restraint stress (ARS) displayed low social interest but simultaneously received excessive social disturbance from their cage mates, indicating a critical time window for social isolation to balance the conflict. To screen brain regions that were differentially activated between the poststress social isolation and poststress social contact groups, we performed ΔFosB immunostaining and found that ΔFosB + signals were remarkably increased in the vDG of poststress social isolation group compared with poststress social contact group. There were no significant differences between the two groups in the other anxiety- and social-related brain regions, such as prelimbic cortex, infralimbic cortex, nucleus accumbens, etc. These data indicate that vDG is closely related to the differential phenotypes between the poststress social isolation and poststress social contact groups. Electrophysiological recording, further, revealed a higher activity of vDG in the poststress social isolation group than the poststress social contact group. Chemogenetically inhibiting vDG excitatory neurons within the first 24 h after ARS completely abolished the anxiolytic effects of poststress social isolation, while stimulating vDG excitatory neurons remarkably reduced anxiety-like behaviors in the poststress social contact group. Together, these data suggest that the activity of vDG excitatory neurons is essential and sufficient to govern the anxiolytic effect of poststress social isolation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to uncover a beneficial role of temporal social isolation in acute stress-induced anxiety. In addition to the critical 24-h time window, activation of vDG is crucial for ameliorating anxiety through poststress social isolation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huiyang Lei
- Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Education Ministry of China/Hubei Province for Neurological Disorders, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Huaqing Shu
- Department of Critical Care Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China
- Corresponding author.
| | - Rui Xiong
- Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Education Ministry of China/Hubei Province for Neurological Disorders, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Ting He
- Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Education Ministry of China/Hubei Province for Neurological Disorders, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Jingru Lv
- Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Education Ministry of China/Hubei Province for Neurological Disorders, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Jiale Liu
- Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Education Ministry of China/Hubei Province for Neurological Disorders, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Guilin Pi
- Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Education Ministry of China/Hubei Province for Neurological Disorders, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Dan Ke
- Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Education Ministry of China/Hubei Province for Neurological Disorders, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Qun Wang
- Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Education Ministry of China/Hubei Province for Neurological Disorders, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Xifei Yang
- Key Laboratory of Modern Toxicology of Shenzhen, Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 8 Longyuan Road, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, 518055, China
| | - Jian-Zhi Wang
- Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Education Ministry of China/Hubei Province for Neurological Disorders, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
- Co-innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong, 226000, China
- Corresponding author. Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Education Ministry of China/Hubei Province for Neurological Disorders, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
| | - Ying Yang
- Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine, Key Laboratory of Education Ministry of China/Hubei Province for Neurological Disorders, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China
- Corresponding author.
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