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Plas SL, Oleksiak CR, Pitre C, Melton C, Moscarello JM, Maren S. Acute stress yields a sex-dependent facilitation of signaled active avoidance in rats. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.27.591470. [PMID: 38746268 PMCID: PMC11092500 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.27.591470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating disorder characterized by excessive fear, hypervigilance, and avoidance of thoughts, situations or reminders of the trauma. Among these symptoms, relatively little is known about the etiology of pathological avoidance. Here we sought to determine whether acute stress influences avoidant behavior in adult male and female rats. We used a stress procedure (unsignaled footshock) that is known to induce long-term sensitization of fear and potentiate aversive learning. Rats were submitted to the stress procedure and, one week later, underwent two-way signaled active avoidance conditioning (SAA). In this task, rats learn to prevent an aversive outcome (shock) by performing a shuttling response when exposed to a warning signal (tone). We found that acute stress significantly enhanced SAA acquisition rate in females, but not males. Female rats exhibited significantly greater avoidance responding on the first day of training relative to controls, reaching similar levels of performance by the second day. Males that underwent the stress procedure showed similar rates of acquisition to controls but exhibited resistance to extinction. This was manifest as both elevated avoidance and intertrial responding across extinction days relative to non-stressed controls, an effect that was not observed in females. In a second experiment, acute stress sensitized footshock unconditioned responses in males, not females. However, males and females exhibited similar levels of stress-enhanced fear learning (SEFL), which was expressed as sensitized freezing to a shock-paired context. Together, these results reveal that acute stress facilitates SAA performance in both male and female rats, though the nature of this effect is different in the two sexes. We did not observe sex differences in SEFL, suggesting that the stress-induced sex difference in performance was selective for instrumental avoidance. Future work will elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the differential effect of stress on instrumental avoidance in male and female rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha L. Plas
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station
| | - Cecily R. Oleksiak
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station
| | - Claire Pitre
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station
| | - Chance Melton
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station
| | - Justin M. Moscarello
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station
| | - Stephen Maren
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station
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Mazaheri M, Radahmadi M, Sharifi MR. Effects of chronic social equality and inequality conditions on passive avoidance memory and PTSD-like behaviors in rats under chronic empathic stress. Int J Neurosci 2024:1-12. [PMID: 38598305 DOI: 10.1080/00207454.2024.2341913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Accepted: 04/07/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Social inequality conditions induce aversion and affect brain functions and mood. This study investigated the effects of chronic social equality and inequality (CSE and CSI, respectively) conditions on passive avoidance memory and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like behaviors in rats under chronic empathic stress. METHODS Rats were divided into different groups, including control, sham-observer, sham-demonstrator, observer, demonstrator, and co-demonstrator groups. Chronic stress (2 h/day) was administered to all stressed groups for 21 days. Fear learning, fear memory, memory consolidation, locomotor activity, and PTSD-like behaviors were evaluated using the passive avoidance test. Apart from the hippocampal weight, the correlations of memory and right hippocampal weight with serum corticosterone (CORT) levels were separately assessed for all experimental groups. RESULTS Latency was significantly higher in the demonstrator and sham-demonstrator groups compared to the control group. It was decreased significantly in other groups compared to the control group. Latency was also decreased in the observer and co-demonstrator groups compared to the demonstrator group. Moreover, the right hippocampal weight was significantly decreased in the demonstrator and sham-demonstrator groups compared to the control group. Pearson's correlation of memory and hippocampal weight with serum CORT levels supported the present findings. CONCLUSION Maladaptive fear responses occurred in demonstrators and sham-demonstrators. Also, extremely high levels of psychological stress, especially under CSI conditions (causing abnormal fear learning) led to heightened fear memory and PTSD-like behaviors. Right hippocampal atrophy confirmed the potential role of CSI conditions in promoting PTSD-like behaviors. Compared to inequality conditions, the abnormal fear memory was reduced under equality conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Mazaheri
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
| | - Maryam Radahmadi
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
| | - Mohammad Reza Sharifi
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
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3
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Wong AHK, Franzen M, Wieser MJ. Unconditioned stimulus devaluation decreases the generalization of costly safety behaviors. J Anxiety Disord 2024; 103:102847. [PMID: 38422593 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2024.102847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2023] [Revised: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Safety behaviors are often maladaptive in clinical anxiety as they typically persist without realistic threat and cause various impairments. In the laboratory, safety behaviors are modelled by responses to a conditioned stimulus (CS) that reduce the occurrence of an expected aversive unconditioned stimulus (US). Preliminary evidence suggests that US devaluation, a procedure that decreases US aversiveness, devalues the threat value of the CS and thus diminishes safety behaviors to the CS. This study (n = 78) aimed to extend this finding and examined whether US-devaluation can reduce the generalization of safety behaviors to various stimuli. After acquiring safety behaviors to CSs of different categories, the US predicted by one CS category was devalued. In test, participants showed a selective reduction in safety behaviors to novel stimuli of the devalued CS category, reflecting a decrease in generalization of safety behaviors. Trait anxiety was associated with persistent generalized safety behaviors to novel stimuli of the devalued category. We discuss how US devaluation may improve treatment outcome but also the challenges of clinical translation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex H K Wong
- Department of Psychology, Educational Sciences, and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - Minita Franzen
- Department of Psychology, Educational Sciences, and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Matthias J Wieser
- Department of Psychology, Educational Sciences, and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, the Netherlands
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Crummy EA, Ahmari SE. Maximizing translational value in models of compulsive behavior: A commentary on Pickenhan et al. (2024). COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2024; 24:266-268. [PMID: 38453807 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-024-01175-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
In this issue of Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, Pickenhan et al. (2024) discuss the need for translational studies to understand features underlying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). They highlight the translational value of the observing-response task (ORT) for modeling functional and maladaptive checking behaviors, a common symptom of OCD.
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Affiliation(s)
- E A Crummy
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - S E Ahmari
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
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5
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Noda T, Aschauer DF, Chambers AR, Seiler JPH, Rumpel S. Representational maps in the brain: concepts, approaches, and applications. Front Cell Neurosci 2024; 18:1366200. [PMID: 38584779 PMCID: PMC10995314 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2024.1366200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Neural systems have evolved to process sensory stimuli in a way that allows for efficient and adaptive behavior in a complex environment. Recent technological advances enable us to investigate sensory processing in animal models by simultaneously recording the activity of large populations of neurons with single-cell resolution, yielding high-dimensional datasets. In this review, we discuss concepts and approaches for assessing the population-level representation of sensory stimuli in the form of a representational map. In such a map, not only are the identities of stimuli distinctly represented, but their relational similarity is also mapped onto the space of neuronal activity. We highlight example studies in which the structure of representational maps in the brain are estimated from recordings in humans as well as animals and compare their methodological approaches. Finally, we integrate these aspects and provide an outlook for how the concept of representational maps could be applied to various fields in basic and clinical neuroscience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takahiro Noda
- Institute of Physiology, Focus Program Translational Neurosciences, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University-Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Dominik F. Aschauer
- Institute of Physiology, Focus Program Translational Neurosciences, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University-Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Anna R. Chambers
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Eaton Peabody Laboratories, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Johannes P.-H. Seiler
- Institute of Physiology, Focus Program Translational Neurosciences, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University-Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Simon Rumpel
- Institute of Physiology, Focus Program Translational Neurosciences, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University-Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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Hulsman AM, van de Pavert I, Roelofs K, Klumpers F. Tackling Costly Fearful Avoidance Using Pavlovian Counterconditioning. Behav Ther 2024; 55:361-375. [PMID: 38418046 DOI: 10.1016/j.beth.2023.07.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Revised: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 07/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/01/2024]
Abstract
Avoidance behavior constitutes a major transdiagnostic symptom that exacerbates anxiety. It hampers fear extinction and predicts poor therapy-outcome. Pavlovian counterconditioning with a reward could alleviate avoidance better than traditional extinction by reducing negative valence of the feared situation. However, previous studies are scarce and did not consider that pathological avoidance is often costly and typically evolves from an approach-avoidance conflict. Therefore, we used an approach-avoidance conflict paradigm to model effects of counterconditioning on costly avoidance (i.e., avoidance that leads to missing out on rewards). Results from our preregistered Bayesian Mixed Model analyses in 51 healthy participants (43 females) indicated that counterconditioning was more effective in reducing negative valuation and decreasing costly avoidance than traditional extinction. This study supports application of a simple counterconditioning technique, shows that its efficacy transfers to more complex avoidance situations, and suggests treatment may benefit from increasing reward drive in combination with extinction to overcome avoidance. Application in a clinical sample is a necessary next step to assess clinical utility of counterconditioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anneloes M Hulsman
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University; Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University
| | - Iris van de Pavert
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University; Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University; KU Leuven
| | - Karin Roelofs
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University; Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University
| | - Floris Klumpers
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University; Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University.
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7
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Widge AS. Closing the loop in psychiatric deep brain stimulation: physiology, psychometrics, and plasticity. Neuropsychopharmacology 2024; 49:138-149. [PMID: 37415081 PMCID: PMC10700701 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-023-01643-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2023] [Revised: 05/28/2023] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an invasive approach to precise modulation of psychiatrically relevant circuits. Although it has impressive results in open-label psychiatric trials, DBS has also struggled to scale to and pass through multi-center randomized trials. This contrasts with Parkinson disease, where DBS is an established therapy treating thousands of patients annually. The core difference between these clinical applications is the difficulty of proving target engagement, and of leveraging the wide range of possible settings (parameters) that can be programmed in a given patient's DBS. In Parkinson's, patients' symptoms change rapidly and visibly when the stimulator is tuned to the correct parameters. In psychiatry, those same changes take days to weeks, limiting a clinician's ability to explore parameter space and identify patient-specific optimal settings. I review new approaches to psychiatric target engagement, with an emphasis on major depressive disorder (MDD). Specifically, I argue that better engagement may come by focusing on the root causes of psychiatric illness: dysfunction in specific, measurable cognitive functions and in the connectivity and synchrony of distributed brain circuits. I overview recent progress in both those domains, and how it may relate to other technologies discussed in companion articles in this issue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alik S Widge
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
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8
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Dymond S, Xia W, Lloyd K, Schlund MW, Zuj DV. Working hard to avoid: Fixed-ratio response effort and maladaptive avoidance in humans. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2023; 76:1889-1912. [PMID: 36112817 DOI: 10.1177/17470218221127660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/20/2023]
Abstract
Maladaptive avoidance of safe stimuli is a defining feature of anxiety and related disorders. Avoidance may involve physical effort or the completion of a fixed series of responses to prevent occurrence of, or cues associated with, the aversive event. Understanding the role of response effort in the acquisition and extinction of avoidance may facilitate the development of new clinical treatments for maladaptive avoidance. Despite this, little is known about the impact of response effort on extinction-resistant avoidance in humans. Here, we describe findings from two laboratory-based treatment studies designed to investigate the impact of high and low response effort on the extinction (Experiment 1) and return (Experiment 2) of avoidance. Response effort was operationalised as completion of fixed-ratio (FR) reinforcement schedules for both danger and safety cues in a multi-cue avoidance paradigm with behavioural, self-report, and physiology measures. Completion of the FR response requirements cancelled upcoming shock presentations following danger cues and had no impact on the consequences that followed safety cues. Both experiments found persistence of high response-effort avoidance across danger and safety cues and sustained (Experiment 1) and reinstated (Experiment 2) levels of fear and threat expectancy. Skin conductance responses evoked by all cues were similar across experiments. The present findings and paradigm have implications for translational research on maladaptive anxious coping and treatment development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Dymond
- School of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
- Department of Psychology, Reykjavík University, Reykjavík, Iceland
| | - Weike Xia
- School of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
| | - Keith Lloyd
- Swansea University Medical School, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
| | - Michael W Schlund
- Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Daniel V Zuj
- School of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS, Australia
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9
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Pastor V, Dalto JF, Medina JH. α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the medial prefrontal cortex control rewarding but not aversive memory expression in a dopamine-sensitive manner. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2023; 227-228:173594. [PMID: 37385456 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2023.173594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Revised: 06/23/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023]
Abstract
Emotional learning involves the association between sensory cues and rewarding or aversive stimuli, and this stored information can be recalled during memory retrieval. In this process, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays an essential role. We have previously shown that the antagonism of α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) by methyllycaconitine (MLA) in the mPFC blocked cue-induced cocaine memory retrieval. However, little is known about the involvement of prefrontal α7 nAChRs in the retrieval of aversive memories. Here, by using pharmacology and different behavioral tasks, we found that MLA did not affect aversive memory retrieval, indicating a differential effect of cholinergic prefrontal control of appetitive and aversive memories. Despite being shown that acetylcholine modulates dopamine release in the mPFC, it remains unknown if those modulatory systems act together to control reward-based behavior. We examined that question and found that dopamine type 1 receptor (D1R) activation prevented MLA-induced blockade of cocaine CPP retrieval. Our results suggest that α7 nAChRs and D1R signaling interact in the mPFC to modulate cocaine-associated memory retrieval.
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Affiliation(s)
- Verónica Pastor
- CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. Eduardo De Robertis" (IBCN), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Medicina, Departamento de Ciencias Fisiológicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Juliana F Dalto
- CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. Eduardo De Robertis" (IBCN), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Jorge H Medina
- CONICET-Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. Eduardo De Robertis" (IBCN), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires (ITBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
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10
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Williford KM, Taylor A, Melchior JR, Yoon HJ, Sale E, Negasi MD, Adank DN, Brown JA, Bedenbaugh MN, Luchsinger JR, Centanni SW, Patel S, Calipari ES, Simerly RB, Winder DG. BNST PKCδ neurons are activated by specific aversive conditions to promote anxiety-like behavior. Neuropsychopharmacology 2023; 48:1031-1041. [PMID: 36941364 PMCID: PMC10209190 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-023-01569-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2022] [Revised: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/05/2023] [Indexed: 03/22/2023]
Abstract
The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is a critical mediator of stress responses and anxiety-like behaviors. Neurons expressing protein kinase C delta (BNSTPKCδ) are an abundant but understudied subpopulation implicated in inhibiting feeding, but which have conflicting reports about their role in anxiety-like behaviors. We have previously shown that expression of PKCδ is dynamically regulated by stress and that BNSTPKCδ cells are recruited during bouts of active stress coping. Here, we first show that in vivo activation of this population is mildly aversive. This aversion was insensitive to prior restraint stress exposure. Further investigation revealed that unlike other BNST subpopulations, BNSTPKCδ cells do not exhibit increased cfos expression following restraint stress. Ex vivo current clamp recordings also indicate they are resistant to firing. To elucidate their afferent control, we next used rabies tracing with whole-brain imaging and channelrhodopsin-assisted circuit mapping, finding that BNSTPKCδ cells receive abundant input from affective, arousal, and sensory regions including the basolateral amygdala (BLA) paraventricular thalamus (PVT) and central amygdala PKCδ-expressing cells (CeAPKCδ). Given these findings, we used in vivo optogenetics and fiber photometry to further examine BNSTPKCδ cells in the context of stress and anxiety-like behavior. We found that BNSTPKCδ cell activity is associated with increased anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze, increases following footshock, and unlike other BNST subpopulations, does not desensitize to repeated stress exposure. Taken together, we propose a model in which BNSTPKCδ cells may serve as threat detectors, integrating exteroceptive and interoceptive information to inform stress coping behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kellie M Williford
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Anne Taylor
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - James R Melchior
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Hye Jean Yoon
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Eryn Sale
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Milen D Negasi
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Danielle N Adank
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Jordan A Brown
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Michelle N Bedenbaugh
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Joseph R Luchsinger
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Samuel W Centanni
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Sachin Patel
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Erin S Calipari
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Richard B Simerly
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Danny G Winder
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
- Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
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Hall L, Binks S, Heal C. The effect of COVID-19 on medical student clinical skill practice and self-perceived proficiency. MEDEDPUBLISH 2023; 13:10. [PMID: 37435137 PMCID: PMC10331848 DOI: 10.12688/mep.19478.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/18/2023] [Indexed: 07/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic significantly impacted medical education. This study aimed to determine how COVID-19 affected students' opportunity to practice core clinical skills across specialty rotations and their self-perceived proficiency at performing these. Methods: Routinely administered surveys of fifth year medical student' experiences and perceptions of medical training from 2016 to 2021 were analysed. Number of times core clinical skills were performed and self-perceived proficiency of each skill were compared pre- (years 2016-2019) and during-COVID (years 2020-2021). Results: Data from 219 surveys showed a reduction in the opportunity to perform "a cervical screen test" (p<0.001), "a mental health assessment" (p=0.006), "assess the risk of suicide" (p=0.004) and "bladder catheterisation" (p=0.007) during-COVID. Self-reported skill proficiency was also less during-COVID for performance of: "a mental health assessment" (p=0.026) and "an ECG" (p=0.035). Conclusions: The impact of COVID-19 on mental health skills was greatest, potentially due to a shift toward telehealth services and consequent reduced ability for students to engage in consultations. In a time of potential long-term change in the healthcare landscape, it is imperative to ensure adequate opportunity to practice all core clinical skills during medical training. Inclusion of telehealth earlier into the curriculum may benefit student confidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leanne Hall
- College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Mackay, Queensland, 4740, Australia
| | - Sophie Binks
- College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Mackay, Queensland, 4740, Australia
| | - Clare Heal
- College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Mackay, Queensland, 4740, Australia
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12
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Hall L, Binks S, Heal C. The effect of COVID-19 on medical student clinical skill practice and self-perceived proficiency. MEDEDPUBLISH 2023. [DOI: 10.12688/mep.19478.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic significantly impacted medical education. This study aimed to determine how COVID-19 affected students’ opportunity to practice core clinical skills across specialty rotations and their self-perceived proficiency at performing these. Methods: Routinely administered surveys of fifth year medical student’ experiences and perceptions of medical training from 2016 to 2021 were analysed. Number of times core clinical skills were performed and self-perceived proficiency of each skill were compared pre- (years 2016-2019) and during-COVID (years 2020-2021). Results: Data from 219 surveys showed a reduction in the opportunity to perform “a cervical screen test” (p<0.001), “a mental health assessment” (p=0.006), “assess the risk of suicide” (p=0.004) and “bladder catheterisation” (p=0.007) during-COVID. Self-reported skill proficiency was also less during-COVID for performance of: “a mental health assessment” (p=0.026) and “an ECG” (p=0.035). Conclusions: The impact of COVID-19 on mental health skills was greatest, potentially due to a shift toward telehealth services and consequent reduced ability for students to engage in consultations. In a time of potential long-term change in the healthcare landscape, it is imperative to ensure adequate opportunity to practice all core clinical skills during medical training. Inclusion of telehealth earlier into the curriculum may benefit student confidence.
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13
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Landin JD, Chandler LJ. Adolescent alcohol exposure alters threat avoidance in adulthood. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 16:1098343. [PMID: 36761697 PMCID: PMC9905129 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.1098343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 12/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Adolescent binge-like alcohol exposure impairs cognitive function and decision making in adulthood and may be associated with dysfunction of threat avoidance, a critical mechanism of survival which relies upon executive function. The present study investigated the impact of binge-like alcohol exposure during adolescence on active avoidance in adulthood. Male and female rats were subjected to adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) exposure by vapor inhalation and then tested in adulthood using a platform-mediated avoidance task. After training to press a lever to receive a sucrose reward, the rats were conditioned to a tone that co-terminated with a foot-shock. A motivational conflict was introduced by the presence of an escape platform that isolated the rat from the shock, but also prevented access to the sucrose reward while the rat was on the platform. During the task training phase, both male and female rats exhibited progressive increases in active avoidance (platform escape) in response to the conditioned tone, whereas innate fear behavior (freezing) remained relatively constant over training days. A history of AIE exposure did not impact either active avoidance or freezing behavior during task acquisition. On the test day following platform acquisition training, female rats exhibited higher levels of both active avoidance and freezing compared to male rats, while AIE-exposed male but not female rats exhibited significantly greater levels of active avoidance compared to controls. In contrast, neither male nor female AIE-exposed rats exhibited alterations in freezing compared to controls. Following 5 days of extinction training, female rats continued to display higher levels of active avoidance and freezing during tone presentation compared to males. Male AIE-exposed rats also had higher levels of both active avoidance and freezing compared to the male control rats. Together, the results demonstrate that female rats exhibit elevated levels of active avoidance and freezing compared to males and further reveal a sex-specific impact of AIE on threat responding in adulthood.
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Durand-de Cuttoli R, Martínez-Rivera FJ, Li L, Minier-Toribio A, Holt LM, Cathomas F, Yasmin F, Elhassa SO, Shaikh JF, Ahmed S, Russo SJ, Nestler EJ, Sweis BM. Distinct forms of regret linked to resilience versus susceptibility to stress are regulated by region-specific CREB function in mice. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eadd5579. [PMID: 36260683 PMCID: PMC9581472 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add5579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2022] [Revised: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 08/30/2022] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Regret describes recognizing alternative actions could have led to better outcomes. It remains unclear whether regret derives from generalized mistake appraisal or instead comprises dissociable, action-specific processes. Using a neuroeconomic task, we found that mice were sensitive to fundamentally distinct types of regret following exposure to chronic social defeat stress or manipulations of CREB, a transcription factor implicated in stress action. Bias to make compensatory decisions after rejecting high-value offers (regret type I) was unique to stress-susceptible mice. Bias following the converse operation, accepting low-value offers (regret type II), was enhanced in stress-resilient mice and absent in stress-susceptible mice. CREB function in either the prefrontal cortex or nucleus accumbens was required to suppress regret type I but bidirectionally regulated regret type II. We provide insight into how maladaptive stress response traits relate to distinct forms of counterfactual thinking, which could steer therapy for mood disorders, such as depression, toward circuit-specific computations through a careful description of decision narrative.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romain Durand-de Cuttoli
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Freddyson J. Martínez-Rivera
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Long Li
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Angélica Minier-Toribio
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Leanne M. Holt
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Flurin Cathomas
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Farzana Yasmin
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Salma O. Elhassa
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Jasmine F. Shaikh
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Sanjana Ahmed
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Scott J. Russo
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Eric J. Nestler
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Brian M. Sweis
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
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López-Moraga A, Beckers T, Luyten L. The effects of stress on avoidance in rodents: An unresolved matter. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:983026. [PMID: 36275848 PMCID: PMC9580497 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.983026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 08/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
In the face of a possible threat, a range of physiological (e.g., increased heart rate) and behavioral (e.g., avoidance or escape) responses are recruited. Here, we will focus on avoidance, in its persistent form one of the core symptoms of anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The initial goal of fear and avoidance responses is to increase survival, but if they become persistent or overgeneralize, they can disrupt normal daily functioning, and ultimately even result in anxiety-related disorders. Relatedly, acute stress responses promote adaptation and survival, while chronic stress has been found to aggravate pathophysiology. Thus, stress might trigger the transition from adaptive to maladaptive responses, e.g., from goal-directed to persistent avoidance. Animal models are prime tools to unravel if and how stress influences avoidance. This is typically done by performing stress inductions prior to the assessment of (passive or active) avoidance behavior. Despite its clinical relevance, the current literature on this topic is fragmented, and an overall conclusion is lacking. In this Review, we first recapitulate the state of the art regarding stress and active as well as passive avoidance procedures. We then summarize the behavioral effects of acute and chronic stress on active and passive avoidance, and discuss the main neurobiological findings of the field. Finally, we highlight possible reasons for the largely contradictory findings in the literature and we propose strategies to further unravel the effect of stress on avoidance behavior. A deeper understanding of this currently unresolved matter may provide further insights in the etiology and treatment of anxiety-related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba López-Moraga
- Center for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Tom Beckers
- Center for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- *Correspondence: Tom Beckers,
| | - Laura Luyten
- Center for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Laura Luyten,
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