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The dynamics of stress: a longitudinal MRI study of rat brain structure and connectome
- Source :
- Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal, Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP), instacron:RCAAP
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Stress is a well-established trigger for a number of neuropsychiatric disorders, as it alters both structure and function of several brain regions and its networks. Herein, we conduct a longitudinal neuroimaging study to assess how a chronic unpredictable stress protocol impacts the structure of the rat brain and its functional connectome in both high and low responders to stress. Our results reveal the changes that stress triggers in the brain, with structural atrophy affecting key regions such as the prelimbic, cingulate, insular and retrosplenial, somatosensory, motor, auditory and perirhinal/entorhinal cortices, the hippocampus, the dorsomedial striatum, nucleus accumbens, the septum, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, the thalamus and several brain stem nuclei. These structural changes are associated with increasing functional connectivity within a network composed by these regions. Moreover, using a clustering based on endocrine and behavioural outcomes, animals were classified as high and low responders to stress. We reveal that susceptible animals (high responders) develop local atrophy of the ventral tegmental area and an increase in functional connectivity between this area and the thalamus, further spreading to other areas that link the cognitive system with the fight-or-flight system. Through a longitudinal approach we were able to establish two distinct patterns, with functional changes occurring during the exposure to stress, but with an inflection point after the first week of stress when more prominent changes were seen. Finally, our study revealed differences in functional connectivity in a brainstem-limbic network that distinguishes resistant and susceptible responders before any exposure to stress, providing the first potential imaging-based predictive biomarkers of an individual's resilience/vulnerability to stressful conditions.<br />This work is part of the Sigma project with the reference FCT-ANR/NEU-OSD/ 0258/2012 co-financed by the French public funding agency ANR (Agence National pour la Recherche, APP Blanc International II 2012), the Portuguese FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) and by the Portuguese North Regional Operational Program (ON.2 – O Novo Norte) under the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN), through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) as well as the Projecto Estratégico co-funded by FCT (PEst-C/SAU/LA0026-/2013) and the European Regional Development Fund COMPETE (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-037298). DAB and AN were funded by grants from FCT-ANR/NEU-OSD/0258/2012. RM is supported by the FCT fellowship grant with the reference PDE/BDE/113604/2015 from the PhDiHES program; AC was supported by a grant from the foundation NRJ. PM was funded by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Portugal; ‘Better mental health during ageing based on temporal prediction of individual brain ageing trajectories (TEMPO)’), Grant Number P-139977. We thank Drs Patrício Costa and Pedro Moreira for support on the various statistical analyses.<br />info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Male
Thalamus
Hippocampus
Nucleus accumbens
Biology
Somatosensory system
03 medical and health sciences
Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
0302 clinical medicine
Neuroimaging
Neural Pathways
medicine
Connectome
Animals
Longitudinal Studies
Rats, Wistar
Molecular Biology
Science & Technology
Ventral Tegmental Area
Brain
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
3. Good health
Rats
Ventral tegmental area
Psychiatry and Mental health
Stria terminalis
Disease Models, Animal
030104 developmental biology
medicine.anatomical_structure
Disease Susceptibility
Neuroscience
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Biomarkers
Stress, Psychological
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14765578
- Volume :
- 23
- Issue :
- 10
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Molecular psychiatry
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....92bc0937fdf7000442a2a7612073ec7a