Elsevier

Neuroscience

Volume 133, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 903-910
Neuroscience

Behavioural neuroscience
Chronic restraint stress down-regulates amygdaloid expression of polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2005.03.046Get rights and content

Abstract

The amygdala is a brain area which plays a decisive role in fear and anxiety. Since exposure to chronic stress can induce profound effects in emotion and cognition, plasticity in specific amygdaloid nuclei in response to prior stress has been hypothesized to account for stress-induced emotional alterations. In order to identify amygdala nuclei which may be affected under chronic stress conditions we evaluated the effects of 21-days chronic restraint stress on the expression of a molecule implicated crucially in alterations in structural plasticity: the polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule. We found that polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule-immunoreactivity within the amygdala, present in somata and neuronal processes, has a regional gradient with the central medial and medial amygdaloid nuclei showing the highest levels. Our results demonstrate that chronic restraint stress induced an overall reduction in polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule-immunoreactivity in the amygdaloid complex, mainly due to a significant decrease in the central medial amygdaloid and medial amygdaloid nuclei. Our data suggest that polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule in these nuclei may play a prominent role in functional and structural remodeling induced by stress, being a potential mechanism for cognitive and emotional modulation. Furthermore, these finding provide the first clear evidence that life experiences can regulate the expression of polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule in the amygdaloid complex.

Section snippets

Animals

Male Wistar Hanover rats (Harlan Iberica, Barcelona, Spain), weighing 150–175g on arrival, were housed in groups of two to three per cage, at a temperature of 22±2°C, and 12-h light/dark cycle (lights on at 07:00 h). Animals had free access to food and water. Approximately 5 weeks after arrival, they were handled daily for 3 days before being weighed. Rats were then allocated to two groups (control and stress) with similar body weight average. On the 5th week after arrival (rats weighing around

Results

Body weight changes were monitored at 7 (Control: 319.0+7.5; Stress: 291.5+3.4), 14 (Control: 344.7+8.2; Stress: 307.9+3.2), and 21 days (Control: 369.0+8.8; Stress: 321.1+2.8) from the starting of the stress-induction protocol. This chronic restraint procedure induced a significant reduction in body weight gain, as indicated by a repeated measures ANOVA indicating significant effects of “Stress” (F1,9=16.35, P<0.003) and “Time” (F2,9=258.84, P<0.001) as well as for the interaction of both

Discussion

The amygdala is a brain area which plays a crucial role in fear and anxiety (Davis 1992, LeDoux 1994, Oakes and Coover 1997). Exposure to chronic stress has been shown to potentiate both anxiety (Vyas et al 2002, Wood et al 2004) and fear conditioning (Conrad et al 1999, Sandi et al 2001, Cordero et al 2003), and plasticity in specific amygdaloid nuclei, in response to prior stress, has been hypothesized to account for stress-induced emotional alterations (Pawlak et al., 2003). However, the

Conclusions

These findings show a marked down-regulation of PSA-NCAM after CRS in two amygdala nuclei, the Ce and ME, which play key roles in the translation of the effects of stress into emotional responses and altered endocrine activity. Since prolonged stress exposure can result in major psychopathological alterations, these findings highlight PSA-NCAM as a potential therapeutic target to treat stress-related emotional disturbances. Indeed such a possibility can be tested thanks to the recent

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