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Shansky RM. Behavioral neuroscience's inevitable SABV growing pains. Trends Neurosci 2024:S0166-2236(24)00121-8. [PMID: 39034262 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2024.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2024] [Revised: 06/17/2024] [Accepted: 06/26/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024]
Abstract
The field of rodent behavioral neuroscience is undergoing two major sea changes: an ever-growing technological revolution, and worldwide calls to consider sex as a biological variable (SABV) in experimental design. Both have enormous potential to improve the precision and rigor with which the brain can be studied, but the convergence of these shifts in scientific practice has exposed critical limitations in classic and widely used behavioral paradigms. While our tools have advanced, our behavioral metrics - mostly developed in males and often allowing for only binary outcomes - have not. This opinion article explores how this disconnect has presented challenges for the accurate depiction and interpretation of sex differences in brain function, arguing for the expansion of current behavioral constructs to better account for behavioral diversity.
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Kalisch R, Russo SJ, Müller MB. Neurobiology and systems biology of stress resilience. Physiol Rev 2024; 104:1205-1263. [PMID: 38483288 DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00042.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2023] [Revised: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Stress resilience is the phenomenon that some people maintain their mental health despite exposure to adversity or show only temporary impairments followed by quick recovery. Resilience research attempts to unravel the factors and mechanisms that make resilience possible and to harness its insights for the development of preventative interventions in individuals at risk for acquiring stress-related dysfunctions. Biological resilience research has been lagging behind the psychological and social sciences but has seen a massive surge in recent years. At the same time, progress in this field has been hampered by methodological challenges related to finding suitable operationalizations and study designs, replicating findings, and modeling resilience in animals. We embed a review of behavioral, neuroimaging, neurobiological, and systems biological findings in adults in a critical methods discussion. We find preliminary evidence that hippocampus-based pattern separation and prefrontal-based cognitive control functions protect against the development of pathological fears in the aftermath of singular, event-type stressors [as found in fear-related disorders, including simpler forms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)] by facilitating the perception of safety. Reward system-based pursuit and savoring of positive reinforcers appear to protect against the development of more generalized dysfunctions of the anxious-depressive spectrum resulting from more severe or longer-lasting stressors (as in depression, generalized or comorbid anxiety, or severe PTSD). Links between preserved functioning of these neural systems under stress and neuroplasticity, immunoregulation, gut microbiome composition, and integrity of the gut barrier and the blood-brain barrier are beginning to emerge. On this basis, avenues for biological interventions are pointed out.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raffael Kalisch
- Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR), Mainz, Germany
- Neuroimaging Center (NIC), Focus Program Translational Neuroscience (FTN), Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, Mainz, Germany
| | - Scott J Russo
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
- Brain and Body Research Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States
| | - Marianne B Müller
- Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR), Mainz, Germany
- Translational Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, Mainz, Germany
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Tanner MK, Hohorst AA, Westerman JD, Mendoza CS, Han R, Moya NA, Jaime J, Alvarez LM, Dryden MQ, Balolia A, Abdul RA, Loetz EC, Greenwood BN. Pharmacological manipulations of the dorsomedial and dorsolateral striatum during fear extinction reveal opposing roles in fear renewal. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2024; 212:107937. [PMID: 38735637 PMCID: PMC11187715 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2024.107937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2024] [Revised: 04/17/2024] [Accepted: 05/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/14/2024]
Abstract
Systemic manipulations that enhance dopamine (DA) transmission around the time of fear extinction can strengthen fear extinction and reduce conditioned fear relapse. Prior studies investigating the brain regions where DA augments fear extinction focus on targets of mesolimbic and mesocortical DA systems originating in the ventral tegmental area, given the role of these DA neurons in prediction error. The dorsal striatum (DS), a primary target of the nigrostriatal DA system originating in the substantia nigra (SN), is implicated in behaviors beyond its canonical role in movement, such as reward and punishment, goal-directed action, and stimulus-response associations, but whether DS DA contributes to fear extinction is unknown. We have observed that chemogenetic stimulation of SN DA neurons during fear extinction prevents the return of fear in contexts different from the extinction context, a form of relapse called renewal. This effect of SN DA stimulation is mimicked by a DA D1 receptor (D1R) agonist injected into the DS, thus implicating DS DA in fear extinction. Different DS subregions subserve unique functions of the DS, but it is unclear where in the DS D1R agonist acts during fear extinction to reduce renewal. Furthermore, although fear extinction increases neural activity in DS subregions, whether neural activity in DS subregions is causally involved in fear extinction is unknown. To explore the role of DS subregions in fear extinction, adult, male Long-Evans rats received microinjections of either the D1R agonist SKF38393 or a cocktail consisting of GABAA/GABAB receptor agonists muscimol/baclofen selectively into either dorsomedial (DMS) or dorsolateral (DLS) DS subregions immediately prior to fear extinction, and extinction retention and renewal were subsequently assessed drug-free. While increasing D1R signaling in the DMS during fear extinction did not impact fear extinction retention or renewal, DMS inactivation reduced later renewal. In contrast, DLS inactivation had no effect on fear extinction retention or renewal but increasing D1R signaling in the DLS during extinction reduced fear renewal. These data suggest that DMS and DLS activity during fear extinction can have opposing effects on later fear renewal, with the DMS promoting renewal and the DLS opposing renewal. Mechanisms through which the DS could influence the contextual gating of fear extinction are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margaret K Tanner
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA
| | - Alyssa A Hohorst
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA
| | | | | | - Rebecca Han
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA
| | - Nicolette A Moya
- Department of Neuroscience, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Jennifer Jaime
- The Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Lareina M Alvarez
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA
| | - Miles Q Dryden
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA
| | - Aleezah Balolia
- Neuroscience Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Denver, CO, USA
| | - Remla A Abdul
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA
| | - Esteban C Loetz
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA
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Coleman PT, Costanza-Chavez GW, Martin HN, Amat J, Frank MG, Sanchez RJ, Potter GJ, Mellert SM, Carter RK, Bonnici GN, Maier SF, Baratta MV. Prior experience with behavioral control over stress facilitates social dominance. Neurobiol Stress 2024; 28:100597. [PMID: 38213318 PMCID: PMC10783635 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2023.100597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Revised: 11/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Dominance status has extensive effects on physical and mental health, and an individual's relative position can be shaped by experiential factors. A variety of considerations suggest that the experience of behavioral control over stressors should produce winning in dominance tests and that winning should blunt the impact of later stressors, as does prior control. To investigate the interplay between competitive success and stressor control, we first examined the impact of stressor controllability on subsequent performance in a warm spot competition test modified for rats. Prior experience of controllable, but not physically identical uncontrollable, stress increased later effortful behavior and occupation of the warm spot. Controllable stress subjects consistently ranked higher than did uncontrollable stress subjects. Pharmacological inactivation of the prelimbic (PL) cortex during behavioral control prevented later facilitation of dominance. Next, we explored whether repeated winning experiences produced later resistance against the typical sequelae of uncontrollable stress. To establish dominance status, triads of rats were given five sessions of warm spot competition. The development of stable dominance was prevented by reversible inactivation of the PL or NMDA receptor blockade in the dorsomedial striatum. Stable winning blunted the later stress-induced increase in dorsal raphe nucleus serotonergic activity, as well as prevented uncontrollable stress-induced social avoidance. In contrast, endocrine and neuroimmune responses to uncontrollable stress were unaffected, indicating a selective impact of prior dominance. Together, these data demonstrate that instrumental control over stress promotes later dominance, but also reveal that winning experiences buffer against the neural and behavioral outcomes of future adversity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Heather N. Martin
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA
| | - Jose Amat
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA
| | - Matthew G. Frank
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA
| | - Rory J. Sanchez
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA
| | - Garrett J. Potter
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA
| | - Simone M. Mellert
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA
| | - Rene K. Carter
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA
| | - Gianni N. Bonnici
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA
| | - Steven F. Maier
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA
| | - Michael V. Baratta
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80301, USA
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Tanner MK, Hohorst AA, Mellert SM, Loetz EC, Baratta MV, Greenwood BN. Female rats are more responsive than are males to the protective effects of voluntary physical activity against the behavioral consequences of inescapable stress. Stress 2023; 26:2245492. [PMID: 37549016 PMCID: PMC10492196 DOI: 10.1080/10253890.2023.2245492] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Common stress-related mental health disorders affect women more than men. Physical activity can provide protection against the development of future stress-related mental health disorders (i.e. stress resistance) in both sexes, but whether there are sex differences in exercise-induced stress resistance is unknown. We have previously observed that voluntary wheel running (VWR) protects both female and male rats against the anxiety- and exaggerated fear-like behavioral effects of inescapable stress, but the time-course and magnitude of VWR-induced stress resilience has not been compared between sexes. The goal of the current study was to determine whether there are sex differences in the time-course and magnitude of exercise-induced stress resistance. In adult female and male Sprague Dawley rats, 6 weeks of VWR produced robust protection against stress-induced social avoidance and exaggerated fear. The magnitude of stress protection was similar between the sexes and was independent of reactivity to shock, general locomotor activity, and circulating corticosterone. Interestingly, 3 weeks of VWR prevented both stress-induced social avoidance and exaggerated fear in females but only prevented stress-induced social avoidance in males. Ovariectomy altered wheel-running behavior in females such that it resembled that of males, however; 3 weeks of VWR still protected females against behavioral consequences of stress regardless of the absence of ovaries. These data indicate that female Sprague Dawley rats are more responsive to exercise-induced stress resistance than are males.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margaret K. Tanner
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver, North Classroom Rm. 5005 F, CB 173, PO Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217-3364
| | - Alyssa A. Hohorst
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Colorado Denver, North Classroom Rm. 5005 F, CB 173, PO Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217-3364
| | - Simone M. Mellert
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Colorado Denver, North Classroom Rm. 5005 F, CB 173, PO Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217-3364
| | - Esteban C. Loetz
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver, North Classroom Rm. 5005 F, CB 173, PO Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217-3364
| | - Michael V. Baratta
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80302
| | - Benjamin N. Greenwood
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver, North Classroom Rm. 5005 F, CB 173, PO Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217-3364
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Coleman PT, Costanza-Chavez GW, Martin HN, Amat J, Frank MG, Sanchez RJ, Potter GJ, Mellert SM, Carter RK, Bonnici GN, Maier SF, Baratta MV. Prior experience with behavioral control over stress facilitates social dominance. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.06.06.543982. [PMID: 37333397 PMCID: PMC10274770 DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.06.543982] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/20/2023]
Abstract
Dominance status has extensive effects on physical and mental health, and an individual's relative position can be shaped by experiential factors. A variety of considerations suggest that the experience of behavioral control over stressors should produce winning in dominance tests and that winning should blunt the impact of later stressors, as does prior control. To investigate the interplay between competitive success and stressor control, we first examined the impact of stressor controllability on subsequent performance in a warm spot competition test modified for rats. Prior experience of controllable, but not physically identical uncontrollable, stress increased later effortful behavior and occupation of the warm spot. Controllable stress subjects consistently ranked higher than did uncontrollable stress subjects. Pharmacological inactivation of the prelimbic (PL) cortex during behavioral control prevented later facilitation of dominance. Next, we explored whether repeated winning experiences produced later resistance against the typical sequelae of uncontrollable stress. To establish dominance status, triads of rats were given five sessions of warm spot competition. Reversible inactivation of the PL or NMDA receptor blockade in the dorsomedial striatum led to a long-term reduction in social rank. Stable dominance blunted the later stress-induced increase in dorsal raphe nucleus serotonergic activity, as well as prevented stress-induced social avoidance. In contrast, endocrine and neuroimmune responses to uncontrollable stress were unaffected, indicating a selective impact of prior dominance. Together, these data demonstrate that instrumental control over stress promotes later dominance, but also reveal that winning experiences buffer against the neural and behavioral outcomes of future adversity.
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Baratta MV, Seligman MEP, Maier SF. From helplessness to controllability: toward a neuroscience of resilience. Front Psychiatry 2023; 14:1170417. [PMID: 37229393 PMCID: PMC10205144 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1170417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
"Learned helplessness" refers to debilitating outcomes, such as passivity and increased fear, that follow an uncontrollable adverse event, but do not when that event is controllable. The original explanation argued that when events are uncontrollable the animal learns that outcomes are independent of its behavior, and that this is the active ingredient in producing the effects. Controllable adverse events, in contrast, fail to produce these outcomes because they lack the active uncontrollability element. Recent work on the neural basis of helplessness, however, takes the opposite view. Prolonged exposure to aversive stimulation per se produces the debilitation by potent activation of serotonergic neurons in the brainstem dorsal raphe nucleus. Debilitation is prevented with an instrumental controlling response, which activates prefrontal circuitry detecting control and subsequently blunting the dorsal raphe nucleus response. Furthermore, learning control alters the prefrontal response to future adverse events, thereby preventing debilitation and producing long-term resiliency. The general implications of these neuroscience findings may apply to psychological therapy and prevention, in particular by suggesting the importance of cognitions and control, rather than habits of control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael V. Baratta
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
| | - Martin E. P. Seligman
- Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Steven F. Maier
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
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McGovern DJ, Ly A, Ecton KL, Huynh DT, Prévost ED, Gonzalez SC, McNulty CJ, Rau AR, Hentges ST, Daigle TL, Tasic B, Baratta MV, Root DH. Ventral tegmental area glutamate neurons mediate nonassociative consequences of stress. Mol Psychiatry 2022:10.1038/s41380-022-01858-3. [PMID: 36437312 PMCID: PMC10375863 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01858-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Revised: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 10/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Exposure to trauma is a risk factor for the development of a number of mood disorders, and may enhance vulnerability to future adverse life events. Recent data demonstrate that ventral tegmental area (VTA) neurons expressing the vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGluT2) signal and causally contribute to behaviors that involve aversive or threatening stimuli. However, it is unknown whether VTA VGluT2 neurons regulate transsituational outcomes of stress and whether these neurons are sensitive to stressor controllability. This work adapted an operant mouse paradigm to examine the impact of stressor controllability on VTA VGluT2 neuron function as well as the role of VTA VGluT2 neurons in mediating transsituational stressor outcomes. Uncontrollable (inescapable) stress, but not physically identical controllable (escapable) stress, produced social avoidance and exaggerated fear in male mice. Uncontrollable stress in females led to exploratory avoidance of a novel brightly lit environment. Both controllable and uncontrollable stressors increased VTA VGluT2 neuronal activity, and chemogenetic silencing of VTA VGluT2 neurons prevented the behavioral sequelae of uncontrollable stress in male and female mice. Further, we show that stress activates multiple genetically-distinct subtypes of VTA VGluT2 neurons, especially those that are VGluT2+VGaT+, as well as lateral habenula neurons receiving synaptic input from VTA VGluT2 neurons. Our results provide causal evidence that mice can be used for identifying stressor controllability circuitry and that VTA VGluT2 neurons contribute to transsituational stressor outcomes, such as social avoidance, exaggerated fear, or anxiety-like behavior that are observed within trauma-related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dillon J McGovern
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, 80301, CO, US
| | - Annie Ly
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, 80301, CO, US
| | - Koy L Ecton
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, 80301, CO, US
| | - David T Huynh
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, 80301, CO, US
| | - Emily D Prévost
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, 80301, CO, US
| | - Shamira C Gonzalez
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, 80301, CO, US
| | - Connor J McNulty
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, 80301, CO, US
| | - Andrew R Rau
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, 1617 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, 80523, CO, US
- Center for Structural and Functional Neuroscience, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, 59812, MT, US
| | - Shane T Hentges
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, 1617 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, 80523, CO, US
- Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, Washington State University, Pullman, 99164, WA, US
| | - Tanya L Daigle
- Allen Institute for Brain Science, 615 Westlake. Avenue North, Seattle, 98109, WA, US
| | - Bosiljka Tasic
- Allen Institute for Brain Science, 615 Westlake. Avenue North, Seattle, 98109, WA, US
| | - Michael V Baratta
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, 80301, CO, US.
| | - David H Root
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, 2860 Wilderness Pl, Boulder, 80301, CO, US.
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