Perinatal Protein Restriction Induces Anhedonic-Like Behavior: Disturbed Hippocampal Neurotrophic Signaling and Neuronal Structural Plasticity in Adult Offspring.

Early protein malnutrition has been shown to affect the brain reward circuitry, leading to enduring molecular, neurochemical, and behavioral alterations. This study explored how maternal protein restriction contributes to anhedonia, a key depression symptom, focusing on the hippocampal BDNF-TrkB signaling and structural plasticity changes in the CA1 subregion of the dorsal hippocampus (DH). To achieve our goal, adult rats submitted to a protein restriction schedule from the 14th day of gestation up to 30 days of age (PR-rats) were subjected to the sucrose preference test (SPT) and compared with animals fed a normoprotein diet.

Role of amygdala astrocytes in different phases of contextual fear memory.

Growing evidence indicates a critical role of astrocytes in learning and memory. However, little is known about the role of basolateral amygdala complex (BLA-C) astrocytes in contextual fear conditioning (CFC), a paradigm relevant to understand and generate treatments for fear- and anxiety-related disorders. To get insights on the involvement of BLA-C astrocytes in fear memory, fluorocitrate (FLC), a reversible astroglial metabolic inhibitor, was applied at critical moments of the memory processing in order to target the acquisition, consolidation, retrieval and reconsolidation process of the fear memory.

Impairment of glutamate homeostasis in the nucleus accumbens core underpins cross-sensitization to cocaine following chronic restraint stress.

Though the facilitating influence of stress on drug abuse is well documented, the mechanisms underlying this interaction have yet to be fully elucidated. The present study explores the neurobiological mechanisms underpinning the sensitized response to the psychomotor-stimulating effects of cocaine following chronic restraint stress (CRS), emphasizing the differential contribution of both subcompartments of the nucleus accumbens (NA), the core (NAcore) and shell (NAshell), to this phenomenon. Adult male Wistar rats were restrained for 2 h/day for 7 days and, 2 weeks after the last stress exposure (day 21), all animals were randomly assigned to behavioral, biochemical or neurochemical tests.

Effect of intra-BLA overexpression of IGF-1 on the expression of a contextual fear memory trace.

Growth factors, such as insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), among others are known for their critical involvement in learning and memory processes. IGF-1 regulates cognitive functions, synapse density, neurotransmission, and adult neurogenesis and induces structural and synaptic plasticity-specific changes. Although IGF-1 has been suggested to participate in different memory processes, its role in memories associated with negative emotional experiences still remains to be elucidated.