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Bahamonde T, Quintana-Donoso D, Linsambarth S, Jerez-Baraona JM, Peña F, Tamburini G, Verdugo DA, Lemunao Y, Ogaz F, Díaz-Galarce R, Rojas S, Stehberg J. The insula mediates the effects of glucocorticoids in anxiety. Neuropharmacology 2023:109620. [PMID: 37263575 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2023.109620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2022] [Revised: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Increased activity in the insula has been consistently reported to be associated with anxiety and anxiety-related disorders. However, little is known on how the insula regulates anxiety. The present study aims at determining the role of the insula on the effects of glucocorticoids in anxiety. A combination of pharmacological manipulations, including blockade of adrenal GC synthesis by metyrapone and intra-insular microinjections of corticosterone, corticosterone-BSA, mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonist spironolactone and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) antagonist mifepristone, were used to assess the short-term (5 min) effects of intra-insular corticosterone in two anxiety-like behaviors in male Sprague-Dawley rats. The elevated plus maze (EPM) and Novelty Suppressed Feeding (hyponeophagia) were utilized. We found that corticosterone in the insula is sufficient to prevent the anxiolytic effects corticosterone synthesis blockade in anxiety, and that intra-insular corticosterone has anxiolytic or anxiogenic effects depending on the amount of corticosterone microinjected, without affecting the HPA axis. Glucocorticoid anxiolytic effects in the insula are mediated by MRs, while its anxiogenic effects are dependent on a mifepristone-sensitive membrane-bound mechanism. Anxiety appears to be modulated at the insula through a competition between fast MR-dependent anxiolytic and membrane-associated mifepristone-sensitive anxiogenic signaling pathways that orchestrate the behavioral response to stress and determines the resulting level of anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamara Bahamonde
- Laboratorio de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina y Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Daisy Quintana-Donoso
- Laboratorio de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina y Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Sergio Linsambarth
- Laboratorio de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina y Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Juan Manuel Jerez-Baraona
- Laboratorio de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina y Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Francisca Peña
- Laboratorio de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina y Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Giovanni Tamburini
- Laboratorio de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina y Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Daniel Antonio Verdugo
- Laboratorio de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina y Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Yordan Lemunao
- Laboratorio de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina y Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Francisco Ogaz
- Laboratorio de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina y Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Raúl Díaz-Galarce
- Laboratorio de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina y Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Sebastian Rojas
- Laboratorio de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina y Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile
| | - Jimmy Stehberg
- Laboratorio de Neurobiologia, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina y Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile.
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