Differential effects of stress on microglial cell activation in male and female medial prefrontal cortex.

ABSTRACT: Susceptibility to stress-linked psychological disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, differs between men and women. Dysfunction of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been implicated in many of these disorders. Chronic stress affects mPFC in a sex-dependent manner, differentially remodeling dendritic morphology and disrupting prefrontally mediated behaviors in males and females. Chronic restraint stress induces microglial activation, reflected in altered microglial morphology and immune factor expression, in mPFC in male rats. Unstressed females exhibit increased microglial ramification in several brain regions compared to males, suggesting both heightened basal activation and a potential for sex-dependent effects of stress on microglial activation. Therefore,

SUBMITTER: Bollinger JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4909118 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature