title: Acute stress enhances the glutamatergic transmission onto basoamygdala neurons embedded in distinct microcircuits.
abstract: Amygdala activation is known to be critical for the processing of stressful events in brain. Recent studies have shown that the projection neurons (PNs) in amygdala, although architecturally intermingled, are integrated into distinct microcircuits and thus play divergent roles in amygdala-related behaviors. It remains unknown how stress regulates the individual amygdala PNs embedded in distinct microcircuits. Here, by using retrograde tracing and electrophysiological recording in in vitro slices, we explored the modulation of acute immobilization stress (AIS) on the basoamygdala (BA) PNs projecting either to medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) or elsewhere, which we designated as BA-mPFC and non-BA-mPFC PNs respectively. The results showed that in the control mice, both the excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs/sIPSCs) were comparable between these two subsets of BA PNs. The influences of AIS on sEPSCs and sIPSCs were overall similar between the two neuronal populations. It markedly increased the sEPSCs amplitude but left unaltered their frequency as well as the sIPSCs amplitude and frequency. Despite this, several differences emerged between the effects of AIS on the distribution of sEPSCs/sIPSCs frequency in these two groups of BA PNs. Similar changes were also observed in the sEPSCs/sIPSCs of the two PN populations from mice experiencing forced swimming stress. Their intrinsic excitability, on the other hand, was nearly unaltered following AIS. Our results thus suggest that acute stress recruit both BA-mPFC and non-BA-mPFC PNs mainly through enhancing the glutamatergic transmission they receive.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fear and Anxiety Disorders, Institute of Life Science, 330031, Nanchang, China.|College of Life Science, 330031, Nanchang, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fear and Anxiety Disorders, Institute of Life Science, 330031, Nanchang, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Hua
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fear and Anxiety Disorders, Institute of Life Science, 330031, Nanchang, China.
authors.forename: Xue-Hui
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fear and Anxiety Disorders, Institute of Life Science, 330031, Nanchang, China.
authors.forename: Jun-Yu
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, 330031, Nanchang, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Li
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the 2nd affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, 330031, Nanchang, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Ping
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Fear and Anxiety Disorders, Institute of Life Science, 330031, Nanchang, China. panbingxing@ncu.edu.cn.|College of Life Science, 330031, Nanchang, China. panbingxing@ncu.edu.cn.|Department of Neurology, the 2nd affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, 330031, Nanchang, China. panbingxing@ncu.edu.cn.|Jiangxi Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center for Cardiovascular, Digestive and Neuropsychiatric diseases, 330031, Nanchang, China. panbingxing@ncu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Bing-Xing
authors.initials: BX
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013550:Swimming; D009435:Synaptic Transmission
chemical_list: D018698:Glutamic Acid
keywords: Acute stress; Amygdala; Intrinsic excitability; Medial prefrontal cortex; Spontaneous postsynaptic current