[β-arrestin2 recruitment by β-adrenergic receptor agonists and antagonists].

A large number of β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) agonists and antagonists are widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and other diseases. Nonetheless, it remains unclear whether these commonly used β-AR drugs can activate downstream β- arrestin-biased signaling pathways. The objective of this study was to investigate β-arrestin2 recruitment effects of β-AR agonists and antagonists that were commonly used in clinical practice.

Noradrenergic consolidation of social recognition memory is mediated by β-arrestin-biased signaling in the mouse prefrontal cortex.

Social recognition memory (SRM) is critical for maintaining social relationships and increasing the survival rate. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is an important brain area associated with SRM storage. Norepinephrine (NE) release regulates mPFC neuronal intrinsic excitability and excitatory synaptic transmission, however, the roles of NE signaling in the circuitry of the locus coeruleus (LC) pathway to the mPFC during SRM storage are unknown.

A distinct D1-MSN subpopulation down-regulates dopamine to promote negative emotional state.

Dopamine (DA) level in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) is critical for reward and aversion encoding. DA released from the ventral mesencephalon (VM) DAergic neurons increases the excitability of VM-projecting D1-dopamine receptor-expressing medium spiny neurons (D1-MSNs) in the NAc to enhance DA release and augment rewards. However, how such a DA positive feedback loop is regulated to maintain DA homeostasis and reward-aversion balance remains elusive.

The Projection From Ventral CA1, Not Prefrontal Cortex, to Nucleus Accumbens Core Mediates Recent Memory Retrieval of Cocaine-Conditioned Place Preference.

Drug-paired cues inducing memory retrieval by expressing drug-seeking behaviors present a major challenge to drug abstinence. How neural circuits coordinate for drug memory retrieval remains unclear. Here, we report that exposure of the training chamber where cocaine-conditioned place preference (CPP) was performed increased neuronal activity in the core of nucleus accumbens (AcbC), ventral CA1 (vCA1), and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), as shown by elevated pERK and c-Fos levels.

β-Arrestin-biased β-adrenergic signaling promotes extinction learning of cocaine reward memory.

Extinction learning of cocaine-associated contextual cues can help prevent cocaine addicts from relapsing. Pharmacological manipulation of β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) during extinction learning is being developed as a potential strategy to treat drug addiction. We demonstrated that the extinction learning of cocaine-associated memory was mediated by β-arrestin2-biased but not heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein)-dependent β-adrenergic signaling.

Fear Conditioning Downregulates Rac1 Activity in the Basolateral Amygdala Astrocytes to Facilitate the Formation of Fear Memory.

Astrocytes are well known to scale synaptic structural and functional plasticity, while the role in learning and memory, such as conditioned fear memory, is poorly elucidated. Here, using pharmacological approach, we find that fluorocitrate (FC) significantly inhibits the acquisition of fear memory, suggesting that astrocyte activity is required for fear memory formation. We further demonstrate that fear conditioning downregulates astrocytic Rac1 activity in basolateral amygdala (BLA) in mice and promotes astrocyte structural plasticity.