Cell Reports (Nov 2024)

Dissociable contributions of the amygdala and ventral hippocampus to stress-induced changes in defensive behavior

  • Zachary T. Pennington,
  • Alexa R. LaBanca,
  • Patlapa Sompolpong,
  • Shereen D. Abdel-Raheim,
  • Bumjin Ko,
  • Zoe Christenson Wick,
  • Yu Feng,
  • Zhe Dong,
  • Taylor R. Francisco,
  • Madeline E. Bacon,
  • Lingxuan Chen,
  • Sasha L. Fulton,
  • Ian Maze,
  • Tristan Shuman,
  • Denise J. Cai

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 43, no. 11
p. 114871

Abstract

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Summary: Stress can have profound consequences on mental health. While much is known about the neural circuits supporting associative memories of stressful events, our understanding of the circuits underlying the non-associative impacts of stress, such as heightened stress sensitivity and anxiety-related behavior, is limited. Here, we demonstrate that the ventral hippocampus (vHC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) support distinct non-associative behavioral changes following stress. Inhibiting stress-induced protein synthesis in the BLA blocked subsequent increases in stress sensitivity but not anxiety-related behaviors. Conversely, inhibiting stress-induced protein synthesis in the vHC blocked subsequent increases in anxiety-related behavior but not stress sensitivity. Inhibiting neuronal activity in the BLA and vHC during the assessment of stress sensitivity or anxiety-related behavior recapitulated these structures’ dissociable contributions to defensive behavior. Lastly, blocking the associative memory of a stressor had no impact on stress-induced changes in anxiety-related behavior. These findings highlight that multiple memory systems support the long-lasting effects of stress.

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