Evaluating the consequences of psychosocial stress exposure to the functional lateralization of the media prefrontal cortex: a morphological and functional approach

• Grant number: 21/13291-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: May 02, 2022
• End date: May 01, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Pharmacology - Neuropsychopharmacology
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Luiz Nunes de Souza
• Grantee: Gessynger Morais Silva
• Supervisor: Nuno Jorge Carvalho de Sousa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas (FCFAR). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade do Minho (UMinho), Portugal
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/15216-2 - Evaluation of the medial prefrontal cortex interhemispheric connections in the resilience and susceptibility to the social defeat stress: because the side matters, BP.PD

Abstract

Recently, the importance of the functional lateralization of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in modulating the emotional responses to aversive stimuli has been gaining attention. Results involving the manipulation of the mPFC activity, specifically the prelimbic (PrL) mPFC, suggest that the chronic stress exposure induce long term changes in this region, decreasing the left mPFC (LmPFC) activity and increasing the right mPFC (RmPFC) activity, which are related to the stress-induced behavioral alterations. However, we still do not know if such experimentally-induced alterations in the LmPFC activity occurs naturally during stress exposure, nor how the electrical activity of the different hemispheres is related during this period. Moreover, little is known about the sexual differences in the mPFC related to stress responses. To answer such questions, this work aims to evaluate the effects of the psychosocial stress in the morphology, local electrical activity and coherence in the left and right hemispheres of the PrL mPFC of female and male mice. After stress exposure, animals will be tested regarding the anxiety-like behaviors and social withdrawal, as well as dendritic morphology, local electrical activity and coherence between LmPFC and RmPFC. Finally, the effects of the PrL RmPFC inhibition in the local electrical activity and coherence between the LmPFC and RmPFC will be analyzed. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MORAIS-SILVA, GESSYNGER; FAVORETTO, CRISTIANE APARECIDA; PAGLIUSI, MARCO; LEGATES, TARA A.. Editorial: Advances in the involvement of brain cellular subpopulations and pathways in distress and stress-related disorders. FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE, v. 17, p. 3-pg., 2023-08-29. (21/13291-0, 20/08363-9, 22/10168-5, 19/24073-3, 20/15216-2)

FAVORETTO, CRISTIANE APARECIDA; PAGLIUSI, MARCO; MORAIS-SILVA, GESSYNGER. Involvement of brain cell phenotypes in stress-vulnerability and resilience. FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE, v. 17, p. 14-pg., 2023-07-05. (21/13291-0, 20/08363-9, 22/10168-5, 19/24073-3, 20/15216-2)