Age- and Sex-Dependent Impact of Repeated Social Stress on Intrinsic and Synaptic Excitability of the Rat Prefrontal Cortex.

ABSTRACT: Stress is implicated in psychiatric illnesses that are characterized by impairments in cognitive functions that are mediated by the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Because sex and age determine stress vulnerability, the effects of repeated social stress occurring during early adolescence, mid-adolescence, or adulthood on the cellular properties of male and female rat mPFC Layer V neurons in vitro were examined. Repeated resident-intruder stress produced age- and sex-specific effects on mPFC intrinsic and synaptic excitability. Mid-adolescents were particularly vulnerable to effects on intrinsic excitability. The maximum number of action potentials (APs) evoked by increasing current intensity was robustly decreased in stressed male and female mid-adolescent rats compared with age-matched c

SUBMITTER: Urban KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5939192 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature