Choice impulsivity after repeated social stress is associated with increased perineuronal nets in the medial prefrontal cortex

Repeated stress can predispose to substance abuse. However, behavioral and neurobiological adaptations that link stress to substance abuse remain unclear. This study investigates whether intermittent social defeat (ISD), a stress protocol that promotes drug-seeking behavior, alters intertemporal dec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2024-03, Vol.14 (1), p.7093-7093, Article 7093
Main Authors: Martinez, Christopher A., Pantazopoulos, Harry, Gisabella, Barbara, Stephens, Emily T., Garteiser, Jacob, Del Arco, Alberto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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631/477
Animals
Choice Behavior - physiology
Decision making
Drug abuse
Drug addiction
Extracellular matrix
Humanities and Social Sciences
Immunohistochemistry
Impulsive behavior
Impulsive Behavior - physiology
Impulsivity
Interneurons
Male
multidisciplinary
Nets
Parvalbumin
Perineuronal nets
Prefrontal cortex
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Rats
Rats, Long-Evans
Reward
Reward-seeking
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Social behavior
Social interactions
Social stress
Substance-Related Disorders
Sugar
Sugars
γ-Aminobutyric acid
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Summary:Repeated stress can predispose to substance abuse. However, behavioral and neurobiological adaptations that link stress to substance abuse remain unclear. This study investigates whether intermittent social defeat (ISD), a stress protocol that promotes drug-seeking behavior, alters intertemporal decision-making and cortical inhibitory function in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Male long evans rats were trained in a delay discounting task (DDT) where rats make a choice between a fast (1 s) small reward (1 sugar pellet) and a large reward (3 sugar pellets) that comes with a time delay (10 s or 20 s). A decreased preference for delayed rewards was used as an index of choice impulsivity. Rats were exposed to ISD and tested in the DDT 24 h after each stress episode, and one- and two-weeks after the last stress episode. Immunohistochemistry was performed in rat’s brains to evaluate perineuronal nets (PNNs) and parvalbumin GABA interneurons (PV) labeling as markers of inhibitory function in mPFC. ISD significantly decreased the preference for delayed large rewards in low impulsive, but not high impulsive, animals. ISD also increased the density of PNNs in the mPFC. These results suggest that increased choice impulsivity and cortical inhibition predispose animals to seek out rewards after stress.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-57599-6