Chronic stress effects on working memory: association with prefrontal cortical tyrosine hydroxylase.
Chronic stress causes deficits in cognitive function including working memory, for which transmission of such catecholamines as dopamine and noradrenaline transmission in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are crucial. Since catecholamine synthesis depends on the rate-limiting enzyme, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), TH is thought to play an important role in PFC function. In this study, we found that two distinct population existed in Sprague-Dawley rats in terms of working memory capacity, one with higher working memory capacity, and the other with low capacity. This distinction of working memory capacity became apparent after rats were exposed to chronic stress. In addition, such working memory capacity and alterations of working memory function by chronic stress were associated with TH expression in the PFC.
Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Young-A
YA
Lee
Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. Electronic address: goto.yukiori.5c@kyoto-u.ac.jp.
Yukiori
Y
Goto
D000818:Animals; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000209:etiology; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000201:enzymology*; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013045:Species Specificity; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000201:enzymology*; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism*
D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase
Dopamine; Prefrontal cortex; Psychiatric disorder; Stress; Tyrosine hydroxylase; Working memory