Abstract
The degree of behavioral control that an organism has over a stressor is a potent modulator of the stressor's impact; uncontrollable stressors produce numerous outcomes that do not occur if the stressor is controllable. Research on controllability has focused on brainstem nuclei such as the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN). Here we find that the infralimbic and prelimbic regions of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (mPFCv) in rats detect whether a stressor is under the organism's control. When a stressor is controllable, stress-induced activation of the DRN is inhibited by the mPFCv, and the behavioral sequelae of uncontrollable stress are blocked. This suggests a new function for the mPFCv and implies that the presence of control inhibits stress-induced neural activity in brainstem nuclei, in contrast to the prevalent view that such activity is induced by a lack of control.
Publication types
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Comparative Study
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
MeSH terms
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Afferent Pathways / physiology
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Analysis of Variance
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Animals
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Behavior, Animal / physiology*
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Cell Count / methods
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Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / methods
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Electroshock / adverse effects
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Escape Reaction / drug effects
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Escape Reaction / physiology
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Fear
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GABA Agonists / pharmacology
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Gene Expression Regulation / drug effects
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Gene Expression Regulation / physiology
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Immunohistochemistry / methods
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Male
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Microdialysis / methods
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Microinjections / methods
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Muscimol / pharmacology
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Neurons / metabolism
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Prefrontal Cortex / drug effects
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Prefrontal Cortex / physiology*
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / metabolism
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Raphe Nuclei / cytology
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Raphe Nuclei / metabolism
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Raphe Nuclei / physiopathology*
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Rats
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Rats, Sprague-Dawley
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Reaction Time / physiology
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Reaction Time / radiation effects
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Serotonin / metabolism
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Stress, Physiological / metabolism
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Stress, Physiological / physiopathology*
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Time Factors
Substances
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GABA Agonists
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
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Muscimol
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Serotonin