TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gellner, Anne-Kathrin
A1  - Sitter, Aileen
A1  - Rackiewicz, Michal
A1  - Sylvester, Marc
A1  - Philipsen, Alexandra
A1  - Zimmer, Andreas
A1  - Stein, Valentin
T1  - Stress vulnerability shapes disruption of motor cortical neuroplasticity
T2  - Translational Psychiatry
N2  - Chronic stress is a major cause of neuropsychiatric conditions such as depression. Stress vulnerability varies individually in mice and humans, measured by behavioral changes. In contrast to affective symptoms, motor retardation as a consequence of stress is not well understood. We repeatedly imaged dendritic spines of the motor cortex in Thy1-GFP M mice before and after chronic social defeat stress. Susceptible and resilient phenotypes were discriminated by symptom load and their motor learning abilities were assessed by a gross and fine motor task. Stress phenotypes presented individual short- and long-term changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis as well as distinct patterns of altered motor learning. Importantly, stress was generally accompanied by a marked reduction of spine density in the motor cortex and spine dynamics depended on the stress phenotype. We found astrogliosis and altered microglia morphology along with increased microglia-neuron interaction in the motor cortex of susceptible mice. In cerebrospinal fluid, proteomic fingerprints link the behavioral changes and structural alterations in the brain to neurodegenerative disorders and dysregulated synaptic homeostasis. Our work emphasizes the importance of synaptic integrity and the risk of neurodegeneration within depression as a threat to brain health.
Y1  - 2022
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/62103
SN  - 2158-3188
VL  - 12
IS  - 1
PB  - Nature Publishing Group
CY  - London
ER  -