Pedro R Olivetti, Arturo Torres-Herraez, Meghan E Gallo, Ricardo Raudales, MaryElena Sumerau, Sinead Moyles, Peter D Balsam, Christoph Kellendonk
{"title":"Inhibition of striatal indirect pathway during second postnatal week leads to long-lasting deficits in motivated behavior.","authors":"Pedro R Olivetti, Arturo Torres-Herraez, Meghan E Gallo, Ricardo Raudales, MaryElena Sumerau, Sinead Moyles, Peter D Balsam, Christoph Kellendonk","doi":"10.1038/s41386-024-01997-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41386-024-01997-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Schizophrenia is a neuropsychiatric disorder with postulated neurodevelopmental etiology. Genetic and imaging studies have shown enhanced dopamine and D2 receptor occupancy in the striatum of patients with schizophrenia. However, whether alterations in postnatal striatal dopamine can lead to long-lasting changes in brain function and behavior is still unclear. Here, we approximated striatal D2R hyperfunction in mice via designer receptor-mediated activation of inhibitory Gi-protein signaling during a defined postnatal time window. We found that G<sub>i</sub>-mediated inhibition of the indirect pathway (IP) during postnatal days 8-15 led to long-lasting decreases in locomotor activity and motivated behavior measured in the adult animal. In vivo photometry further showed that the motivational deficit was associated with an attenuated adaptation of outcome-evoked dopamine levels to changes in effort requirements. These data establish a sensitive time window of D2R-regulated striatal development with long-lasting impacts on neuronal function and behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":19143,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychopharmacology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142350799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mahmoud Rashidi, Joe J. Simon, Katja Bertsch, Gerhard Vincent Wegen, Beate Ditzen, Herta Flor, Valery Grinevich, Robert Christian Wolf, Sabine C. Herpertz
{"title":"Effects of intranasal oxytocin on fear extinction learning","authors":"Mahmoud Rashidi, Joe J. Simon, Katja Bertsch, Gerhard Vincent Wegen, Beate Ditzen, Herta Flor, Valery Grinevich, Robert Christian Wolf, Sabine C. Herpertz","doi":"10.1038/s41386-024-01996-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41386-024-01996-y","url":null,"abstract":"Once a threat no longer exists, extinction of conditioned fear becomes adaptive in order to reduce allotted resources towards cues that no longer predict the threat. In anxiety and stress disorders, fear extinction learning may be affected. Animal findings suggest that the administration of oxytocin (OT) modulates extinction learning in a timepoint-dependent manner, facilitating extinction when administered prior to fear conditioning, but impairing it when administered prior to extinction learning. The aim of the present study was to examine if these findings translate into human research. Using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2-day fear conditioning and extinction learning design, behavioral (self-reported anxiety), physiological (skin conductance response), neuronal (task-based and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging), and hormonal (cortisol) data were collected from 124 naturally cycling (taking no hormonal contraceptives) healthy females. When administered prior to conditioning (Day 1), OT, similar to rodent findings, did not affect fear conditioning, but modulated the intrinsic functional connectivity of the anterior insula immediately after fear conditioning. In contrast to animal findings, OT impaired, not facilitated, extinction learning on the next day and increased anterior insula activity. When administered prior to extinction learning (day 2), OT increased the activity in the bilateral middle temporal gyrus, and similar to animal findings, reduced extinction learning. The current findings suggest that intranasal OT impedes fear extinction learning in humans regardless of the timepoint of administration, providing new insights and directions for future translational research and clinical applications.","PeriodicalId":19143,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychopharmacology","volume":"50 3","pages":"548-555"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11735929/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142308210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Remco Bredewold, Catherine Washington, Alexa H Veenema
{"title":"Vasopressin regulates social play behavior in sex-specific ways through glutamate modulation in the lateral septum.","authors":"Remco Bredewold, Catherine Washington, Alexa H Veenema","doi":"10.1038/s41386-024-01987-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41386-024-01987-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding the neural basis of social play in juvenile rats may ultimately help restore social play deficits in autistic children. We previously found that administration of a vasopressin (AVP) V1a receptor (V1aR) antagonist into the lateral septum (LS) increased social play behavior in male juvenile rats and decreased it in females. Here, we demonstrate that glutamate, but not GABA, is involved in this sex-specific regulation. First, we found a sex difference in extracellular LS glutamate/GABA ratio (lower in females) that was eliminated by V1aR antagonist infusion in the LS that caused an increase in glutamate release in females only. Second, infusion of the glutamate receptor agonist L-glutamic acid into the LS mimicked the V1aR antagonist-induced decrease in female social play while preventing the increase in male social play. Third, infusion of the glutamate receptor antagonists AP-5 and CNQX into the LS prevented the V1aR antagonist-induced decrease in female social play. Fourth, there were no sex differences in extracellular GABA release in the LS upon either V1aR antagonist infusion or in social play expression upon infusion of the GABA-A receptor agonist muscimol into the LS, suggesting that GABA is not involved in the sex-specific regulation of social play by the LS-AVP system. Last, we found no sex differences in the type (GAD1/2, somatostatin, calbindin 1, Sox9) of V1aR-expressing LS cells, suggesting other cellular mechanisms mediating the sex-specific effects on glutamate release in the LS by the LS-AVP system. In conclusion, we demonstrate that the LS-AVP system regulates social play sex-specifically via glutamatergic neurotransmission. These findings have relevance for potential sex-specific effects of AVP-based treatment of social deficits in children.</p>","PeriodicalId":19143,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychopharmacology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142292167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Muzhou Jiang, Dan Zhao, Yue Zhou, Wei Kong, Zhen Xie, Yijie Xiong, Yanhui Li, Shuxuan Zhao, Xueshuai Kou, Simeng Zhang, Rui Meng, Yaping Pan, Zhou Wu, Hiroshi Nakanishi, Juan Zhao, Hui Li, Zhenzhen Quan, Li Lin, Hong Qing, Junjun Ni
{"title":"Cathepsin B modulates microglial migration and phagocytosis of amyloid β in Alzheimer's disease through PI3K-Akt signaling.","authors":"Muzhou Jiang, Dan Zhao, Yue Zhou, Wei Kong, Zhen Xie, Yijie Xiong, Yanhui Li, Shuxuan Zhao, Xueshuai Kou, Simeng Zhang, Rui Meng, Yaping Pan, Zhou Wu, Hiroshi Nakanishi, Juan Zhao, Hui Li, Zhenzhen Quan, Li Lin, Hong Qing, Junjun Ni","doi":"10.1038/s41386-024-01994-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-024-01994-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The approval of anti-amyloid β (Aβ) monoclonal antibodies (lecanemab) for the treatment of patients with early preclinical stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by the Food and Drug Administration, suggests the reliability and importance of brain Aβ clearance for AD therapy. Microglia are the main phagocytes that clear Aβ in the brain, but the underlying regulatory mechanism is unclear. Here, we investigate the critical role of cathepsin B (CatB) in modulating microglial Aβ clearance from mouse brain. Wild-type or CatB<sup>-/-</sup> mice were injected with Aβ into the hippocampus from 1 to 3 weeks. Mice were evaluated for cognitive change, Aβ metabolism, neuroinflammation. Microglia and neuron cultures were prepared to verify the in vivo results. The statistical analyses were performed by student's t test, one-way ANOVA with a post hoc Tukey's test using the GraphPad Prism software package. CatB deficiency significantly reduces Aβ clearance efficiency and aggravates mouse cognitive decline. Exogenous Aβ markedly increases CatB expression in activated microglia. Transcriptome analysis and in vitro cell culture experiments demonstrate that CatB is associated with gene clusters involved in migration, phagocytosis, and inflammation. In addition, transcriptome analysis and immunoblotting suggest that CatB modulates microglial Aβ clearance via PI3K-AKT activation. Our study unveils a previously unknown role of CatB in promoting microglial functionality during Aβ clearance.</p>","PeriodicalId":19143,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychopharmacology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142292161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chen Li, Nicholas S. McCloskey, Saadet Inan, Lynn G. Kirby
{"title":"Role of serotonin neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus in heroin self-administration and punishment","authors":"Chen Li, Nicholas S. McCloskey, Saadet Inan, Lynn G. Kirby","doi":"10.1038/s41386-024-01993-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41386-024-01993-1","url":null,"abstract":"One hallmark of substance use disorder is continued drug use despite negative consequences. When drug-taking behavior is punished with aversive stimuli, i.e. footshock, rats can also be categorized into punishment-resistant or compulsive vs. punishment-sensitive or non-compulsive phenotypes. The serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) system modulates responses to both reward and punishment. The goal of the current study was to examine punishment phenotypes in heroin self-administration and to determine the role of dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) 5-HT neurons in both basal and punished heroin self-administration. First, rats were exposed to punished heroin self-administration and neuronal excitability of DRN 5-HT neurons was compared between punishment-resistant and punishment-sensitive phenotypes using ex vivo electrophysiology. Second, DRN 5-HT neuronal activity was manipulated in vivo during basal and punished heroin self-administration using chemogenetic tools in a Tph2-iCre rat line. While rats separated into punishment-resistant and punishment-sensitive phenotypes for punished heroin self-administration, DRN 5-HT neuronal excitability did not differ between the phenotypes. While chemogenetic inhibition of DRN 5-HT neurons was without effect, chemogenetic activation of DRN 5-HT neurons increased both basal and punished heroin self-administration selectively in punishment-resistant animals. Additionally, the responsiveness to chemogenetic activation of DRN 5-HT neurons in basal self-administration and motivation for heroin in progressive ratio each predicted resistance to punishment. Therefore, our data support the role for the DRN 5-HT system in compulsive heroin self-administration.","PeriodicalId":19143,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychopharmacology","volume":"50 3","pages":"596-604"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11735851/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142292166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zilu Ma, Ying Duan, Ida Fredriksson, Pei-Jung Tsai, Ashley Batista, Hanbing Lu, Yavin Shaham, Yihong Yang
{"title":"Role of dorsal striatum circuits in relapse to opioid seeking after voluntary abstinence","authors":"Zilu Ma, Ying Duan, Ida Fredriksson, Pei-Jung Tsai, Ashley Batista, Hanbing Lu, Yavin Shaham, Yihong Yang","doi":"10.1038/s41386-024-01990-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41386-024-01990-4","url":null,"abstract":"High relapse rate during abstinence is a defining characteristic of drug addiction. We previously found that opioid seeking progressively increases after voluntary abstinence induced by adverse consequences of oxycodone seeking (crossing an electric barrier). Functional MRI revealed that this effect is associated with changes in functional connectivity within medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC)- and dorsomedial striatum (DMS)-related circuits. Here, we used a pharmacological manipulation and fMRI to determine the causal role of mOFC and DMS in oxycodone seeking after electric barrier-induced abstinence. We trained rats to self-administer oxycodone (6 h/day, 14 days). Next, we induced voluntary abstinence by exposing them to an electric barrier for 2 weeks. We inactivated the mOFC and DMS with muscimol+baclofen (GABAa and GABAb receptor agonists) and then tested them for relapse to oxycodone seeking on abstinence days 1 or 15 without the electric barrier or oxycodone. Inactivation of DMS (p < 0.001) but not mOFC decreased oxycodone seeking before or after electric barrier-induced abstinence. Functional MRI data revealed that DMS inactivation decreased cerebral blood volume levels in DMS and several distant cortical and subcortical regions (corrected p < 0.05). Furthermore, functional connectivity of DMS with several frontal, sensorimotor, and auditory regions significantly increased after DMS inactivation (corrected p < 0.05). Finally, an exploratory analysis of an existing functional MRI dataset showed that DMS inactivation restored voluntary abstinence-induced longitudinal changes in DMS functional connectivity with these brain regions (p < 0.05). Results indicate a role of DMS and related brain circuits in oxycodone seeking after voluntary abstinence, suggesting potential targets for intervention.","PeriodicalId":19143,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychopharmacology","volume":"50 2","pages":"452-460"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-024-01990-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142292165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sophia J. Weber, Alex B. Kawa, Madelyn M. Beutler, Hayley M. Kuhn, Alana L. Moutier, Jonathan G. Westlake, Lara M. Koyshman, Cloe D. Moreno, Amanda M. Wunsch, Marina E. Wolf
{"title":"Dopamine transmission at D1 and D2 receptors in the nucleus accumbens contributes to the expression of incubation of cocaine craving","authors":"Sophia J. Weber, Alex B. Kawa, Madelyn M. Beutler, Hayley M. Kuhn, Alana L. Moutier, Jonathan G. Westlake, Lara M. Koyshman, Cloe D. Moreno, Amanda M. Wunsch, Marina E. Wolf","doi":"10.1038/s41386-024-01992-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41386-024-01992-2","url":null,"abstract":"Relapse represents a consistent clinical problem for individuals with substance use disorder. In the incubation of craving model of persistent craving and relapse, cue-induced drug seeking progressively intensifies or “incubates” during the first weeks of abstinence from drug self-administration and then remains high for months. Previously, we and others have demonstrated that expression of incubated cocaine craving requires strengthening of excitatory synaptic transmission in the nucleus accumbens core (NAcc). However, despite the importance of dopaminergic signaling in the NAcc for motivated behavior, little is known about the role that dopamine (DA) plays in the incubation of cocaine craving. Here we used fiber photometry to measure DA transients in the NAcc of male and female rats during cue-induced seeking tests conducted in early abstinence from cocaine self-administration, prior to incubation, and late abstinence, after incubation of craving has plateaued. We observed DA transients time-locked to cue-induced responding but their magnitude did not differ significantly when measured during early versus late abstinence seeking tests. Next, we tested for a functional role of these DA transients by injecting DA receptor antagonists into the NAcc just before the cue-induced seeking test. Blockade of either D1 or D2 DA receptors reduced cue-induced cocaine seeking after but not before incubation. We found no main effect of sex or significant interaction of sex with other factors in our experiments. These results suggest that DA contributes to incubated cocaine seeking but the emergence of this role reflects changes in postsynaptic responsiveness to DA rather than presynaptic alterations.","PeriodicalId":19143,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychopharmacology","volume":"50 2","pages":"461-471"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142292163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Memory engram stability and flexibility","authors":"Yosif Zaki, Denise J. Cai","doi":"10.1038/s41386-024-01979-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41386-024-01979-z","url":null,"abstract":"Many studies have shown that memories are encoded in sparse neural ensembles distributed across the brain. During the post-encoding period, often during sleep, many of the cells that were active during encoding are reactivated, supporting consolidation of this memory. During memory recall, many of the same cells that were active during encoding and reactivated during consolidation are reactivated during recall. These ensembles of cells have been referred to as the memory engram cells, stably representing a specific memory. However, recent studies question the rigidity of the “stable memory engram.” Here we review the past literature of how episodic-like memories are encoded, consolidated, and recalled. We also highlight more recent studies (as well as some older literature) that suggest that these stable memories and their representations are much more dynamic and flexible than previously thought. We highlight some of these processes, including memory updating, reconsolidation, forgetting, schema learning, memory-linking, and representational drift.","PeriodicalId":19143,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychopharmacology","volume":"50 1","pages":"285-293"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11525749/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142292164","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The anxiogenic drug yohimbine is a reinforcer in male and female rats","authors":"Briana Renda, Francesco Leri","doi":"10.1038/s41386-024-01985-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41386-024-01985-1","url":null,"abstract":"The indole alkaloid yohimbine is an anxiogenic drug that activates stress-responsive systems in the brain. However, because yohimbine also elicits approach behaviors, this study employed male and female Sprague-Dawley rats to explore its potential reinforcing effects. Thus, it was first determined if intravenous (IV) infusions of yohimbine (0.25 mg/kg/infusion) could maintain lever pressing, whether intake could be modulated by dose/infusion, and if lever pressing would persist in the absence of yohimbine or yohimbine-paired cues. Next, to assess yohimbine’s effect on memory consolidation, 0.3, 1.25 or 3 mg/kg yohimbine was administered post-training using an object recognition memory task. Finally, place conditioning assessed whether doses of yohimbine that elevate blood serum corticosterone levels (1.25 or 3 mg/kg) could elicit a conditioned place preference. It was found that both sexes acquired yohimbine IV self-administration, that intake was modulated by dose/infusion, and that lever pressing persisted during extinction and in the absence of the yohimbine-paired cue. As well, post-training injections of 1.25 mg/kg yohimbine enhanced consolidation of object memory, and 1.25 and 3 mg/kg elevated corticosterone levels and elicited a place preference in both sexes. Finally, in behavioral tests of psychomotor functions, acute yohimbine increased lever pressing for a visual cue and elevated locomotor activity. These findings reveal a profile of yohimbine’s behavioral effects that is consistent with that of psychostimulant reinforcing drugs.","PeriodicalId":19143,"journal":{"name":"Neuropsychopharmacology","volume":"50 2","pages":"432-443"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142266349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}