Enriched environment reduces pyramidal neuron excitability in the anterior cingulate cortex to alleviate restraint stress-induced anxiety-like behaviors in mice
CHEN Changfeng
FANG Qin
GAO Yinhuan
WANG Liecheng
CHEN Lei
Abstract：Objective To investigate the mechanism by which the pyramidal neurons of the anterior cingulate cortex(ACC)modulate the effects of enriched environment(EE)for relieving anxiety-like behaviors in mice.Methods C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into control group,restraint stress(RS)group,and RS+EE group(n=8).The mice in the latter two groups were subjected to RS for 2 h daily for 3 days,and those in RS+EE group were housed in an EE during modeling.Anxiety-like behaviors of the mice were evaluated using the elevated plus-maze tests(EPM)and open field test(OFT).Changes in c-Fos expression in the ACC of the mice were detected with immunofluorescence assay,and pyramidal neuron excitability in the ACC(PynACC)was measured using patch-clamp technique.The miniature excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic currents(mEPSC and mIPSC,respectively)were analyzed to assess synaptic transmission changes.Results Behavioral tests showed obvious anxiety-like behaviors in RS mice,and such behavioral changes were significantly improved in RS+EE mice.Immunofluorescence staining revealed significantly increased c-Fos expression in the ACC in RS mice but lowered c-Fos expression in RS+EE group.Compared with the control mice,the RS mice showed increased action potential firing rate of PynACC,which was significantly reduced in RS+EE group.Compared with the RS mice,the RS+EE mice showed also decreased frequency of mEPSCs of PynACC,but the amplitude exhibited no significant changes.No obvious changes in the frequency or amplitude of mIPSCs were observed in RS+EE mice.Conclusion EE reduces excitability of PynACC to alleviate anxiety-like behaviors induced by RS in mice.
Keywords：enriched environmentanterior cingulate cortexpyramidal neuronanxietyexcitability
Publication Date：2025-05-20
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：7( 962-968 )