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Sequeira MK, Stachowicz KM, Seo EH, Yount ST, Gourley SL. Cocaine disrupts action flexibility via glucocorticoid receptors. iScience 2024; 27:110148. [PMID: 38989467 PMCID: PMC11233908 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110148] [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: 08/08/2023] [Revised: 03/22/2024] [Accepted: 05/27/2024] [Indexed: 07/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Many addictive drugs increase stress hormone levels. They also alter the propensity of organisms to prospectively select actions based on long-term consequences. We hypothesized that cocaine causes inflexible action by increasing circulating stress hormone levels, activating the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). We trained mice to generate two nose pokes for food and then required them to update action-consequence associations when one response was no longer reinforced. Cocaine delivered in adolescence or adulthood impaired the capacity of mice to update action strategies, and inhibiting CORT synthesis rescued action flexibility. Next, we reduced Nr3c1, encoding GR, in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a region of the brain responsible for interlacing new information into established routines. Nr3c1 silencing preserved action flexibility and dendritic spine abundance on excitatory neurons, despite cocaine. Spines are often considered substrates for learning and memory, leading to the discovery that cocaine degrades the representation of new action memories, obstructing action flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle K. Sequeira
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Kathryn M. Stachowicz
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Esther H. Seo
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Sophie T. Yount
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Graduate Program in Molecular and Systems Pharmacology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Shannon L. Gourley
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Graduate Program in Molecular and Systems Pharmacology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA
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Yount ST, Wang S, Allen AT, Shapiro LP, Butkovich LM, Gourley SL. A molecularly defined orbitofrontal cortical neuron population controls compulsive-like behavior, but not inflexible choice or habit. Prog Neurobiol 2024; 238:102632. [PMID: 38821345 PMCID: PMC11332912 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2024.102632] [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: 01/15/2024] [Revised: 04/11/2024] [Accepted: 05/20/2024] [Indexed: 06/02/2024]
Abstract
Habits are familiar behaviors triggered by cues, not outcome predictability, and are insensitive to changes in the environment. They are adaptive under many circumstances but can be considered antecedent to compulsions and intrusive thoughts that drive persistent, potentially maladaptive behavior. Whether compulsive-like and habit-like behaviors share neural substrates is still being determined. Here, we investigated mice bred to display inflexible reward-seeking behaviors that are insensitive to action consequences. We found that these mice demonstrate habitual response biases and compulsive-like grooming behavior that was reversible by fluoxetine and ketamine. They also suffer dendritic spine attrition on excitatory neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Nevertheless, synaptic melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R), a factor implicated in compulsive behavior, is preserved, leading to the hypothesis that Mc4r+ OFC neurons may drive aberrant behaviors. Repeated chemogenetic stimulation of Mc4r+ OFC neurons triggered compulsive and not inflexible or habitual response biases in otherwise typical mice. Thus, Mc4r+ neurons within the OFC appear to drive compulsive-like behavior that is dissociable from habitual behavior. Understanding which neuron populations trigger distinct behaviors may advance efforts to mitigate harmful compulsions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie T Yount
- Graduate Program in Molecular and Systems Pharmacology, USA; Emory National Primate Research Center, USA; Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, USA
| | - Silu Wang
- Emory National Primate Research Center, USA; Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, USA; Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Aylet T Allen
- Emory National Primate Research Center, USA; Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, USA
| | - Lauren P Shapiro
- Graduate Program in Molecular and Systems Pharmacology, USA; Emory National Primate Research Center, USA; Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, USA
| | - Laura M Butkovich
- Emory National Primate Research Center, USA; Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, USA
| | - Shannon L Gourley
- Graduate Program in Molecular and Systems Pharmacology, USA; Emory National Primate Research Center, USA; Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, USA; Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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Perica MI, Luna B. Impact of stress on excitatory and inhibitory markers of adolescent cognitive critical period plasticity. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 153:105378. [PMID: 37643681 PMCID: PMC10591935 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Revised: 08/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
Adolescence is a time of significant neurocognitive development. Prolonged maturation of prefrontal cortex (PFC) through adolescence has been found to support improvements in executive function. Changes in excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms of critical period plasticity have been found to be present in the PFC through adolescence, suggesting that environment may have a greater effect on development during this time. Stress is one factor known to affect neurodevelopment increasing risk for psychopathology. However, less is known about how stress experienced during adolescence could affect adolescent-specific critical period plasticity mechanisms and cognitive outcomes. In this review, we synthesize findings from human and animal literatures looking at the experience of stress during adolescence on cognition and frontal excitatory and inhibitory neural activity. Studies indicate enhancing effects of acute stress on cognition and excitation within specific contexts, while chronic stress generally dampens excitatory and inhibitory processes and impairs cognition. We propose a model of how stress could affect frontal critical period plasticity, thus potentially altering neurodevelopmental trajectories that could lead to risk for psychopathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria I Perica
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
| | - Beatriz Luna
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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Campos-Cardoso R, Novaes LS, Godoy LD, Dos Santos NB, Perfetto JG, Lazarini-Lopes W, Garcia-Cairasco N, Padovan CM, Munhoz CD. The resilience of adolescent male rats to acute stress-induced delayed anxiety is age-related and glucocorticoid release-dependent. Neuropharmacology 2023; 226:109385. [PMID: 36603798 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2022.109385] [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: 06/06/2022] [Revised: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 12/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Studies investigated how stressful experiences modulate physiological and behavioral responses and the consequences of stress-induced corticosterone release in anxiety-like behavior. Adolescence is crucial to brain maturation, and several neurobiological changes in this period lead individuals to increased susceptibility or resilience to aversive situations. Despite the effects of stress in adults, information about adolescents' responses to acute stress is lacking. We aimed to understand how adolescence affects acute stress responses. Male adolescent rats (30 days old) were 2 h restrained, and anxiety-like behaviors were measured immediately or 10 days after stress in the elevated plus-maze (EPM) and the light-dark box (LDB) tests. To verify the importance of CORT modulation in stress-induced anxiety, another group of rats was treated, 30 min before restraint, with metyrapone to blunt the stress-induced CORT peak and tested immediately after stress. To show that stress effects on behavior were age-dependent, another set of rats was tested in two different periods - early adolescence (30 days old) and mid-adolescence (40 days old) and were treated or not with metyrapone before the stress session and tested immediately or ten days later in the LDB test. Only early adolescent male rats were resilient to delayed anxiety-like behavior in EPM and LDB tests. Metyrapone treatment increased the rats' exploration immediately and ten days after stress. These data suggest a specific age at which adolescent rats are resilient to the delayed effects of acute restraint stress and that the metyrapone treatment has long-term behavioral consequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo Campos-Cardoso
- Department of Pharmacology, Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Brazil; Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Leonardo Santana Novaes
- Department of Pharmacology, Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Brazil
| | - Lívea Dornela Godoy
- Department of Physiology, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | | | - Juliano Genaro Perfetto
- Department of Pharmacology, Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Brazil
| | - Willian Lazarini-Lopes
- Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Norberto Garcia-Cairasco
- Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil; Department of Physiology, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Cláudia Maria Padovan
- Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters at Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Carolina Demarchi Munhoz
- Department of Pharmacology, Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Brazil.
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Obray JD, Landin JD, Vaughan DT, Scofield MD, Chandler LJ. Adolescent alcohol exposure reduces dopamine 1 receptor modulation of prelimbic neurons projecting to the nucleus accumbens and basolateral amygdala. ADDICTION NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 4:100044. [PMID: 36643604 PMCID: PMC9836047 DOI: 10.1016/j.addicn.2022.100044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Binge drinking during adolescence is highly prevalent despite increasing evidence of its long-term impact on behaviors associated with modulation of behavioral flexibility by the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In the present study, male and female rats underwent adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) exposure by vapor inhalation. After aging to adulthood, retrograde bead labelling and viral tagging were used to identify populations of neurons in the prelimbic region (PrL) of the mPFC that project to specific subcortical targets. Electrophysiological recording from bead-labelled neurons in PrL slices revealed that AIE did not alter the intrinsic excitability of PrL neurons that projected to either the NAc or the BLA. Similarly, recordings of spontaneous inhibitory and excitatory post-synaptic currents revealed no AIE-induced changes in synaptic drive onto either population of projection neurons. In contrast, AIE exposure was associated with a loss of dopamine receptor 1 (D1), but no change in dopamine receptor 2 (D2), modulation of evoked firing of both populations of projection neurons. Lastly, confocal imaging of proximal and apical dendritic tufts of viral-labelled PrL neurons that projected to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) revealed AIE did not alter the density of dendritic spines. Together, these observations provide evidence that AIE exposure results in disruption of D1 receptor modulation of PrL inputs to at least two major subcortical target regions that have been implicated in AIE-induced long-term changes in behavioral control.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. Daniel Obray
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, 30 Courtenay Drive, Charleston SC 29425, USA
| | - Justine D. Landin
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, 30 Courtenay Drive, Charleston SC 29425, USA
| | - Dylan T. Vaughan
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, 30 Courtenay Drive, Charleston SC 29425, USA
| | - Michael D. Scofield
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, 30 Courtenay Drive, Charleston SC 29425, USA,Department of Anesthesiology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston SC, USA
| | - L. Judson Chandler
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, 30 Courtenay Drive, Charleston SC 29425, USA,Corresponding author. (L.J. Chandler)
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Abstract
Stressor exposure causes dendritic remodeling on excitatory neurons in multiple regions of the brain, including the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Additionally, stressor and exogenous stress hormone exposure impair cognitive functions that are dependent on the OFC. For this Special Issue on the OFC, we summarize current literature regarding how stress-prenatal, postnatal, and even inter-generational-affects OFC neuron structure in rodents. We discuss dendrite structure, dendritic spines, and gene expression. We aim to provide a focused resource for those interested in how stressors impact this heterogeneous brain region. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle K. Sequeira
- Graduate Training Program in Neuroscience, Emory University, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, 954 Gatewood Rd. NE, Atlanta GA 30329
| | - Shannon L. Gourley
- Graduate Training Program in Neuroscience, Emory University, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, 954 Gatewood Rd. NE, Atlanta GA 30329
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