Stress Degrades Prefrontal Cortex Neuronal Coding of Goal-Directed Behavior.

ABSTRACT: Stress, pervasive in modern society, impairs prefrontal cortex (PFC)-dependent cognitive processes, an action implicated in multiple psychopathologies and estimated to contribute to nearly half of all work place accidents. However, the neurophysiological bases for stress-related impairment of PFC-dependent function remain poorly understood. The current studies examined the effects of stress on PFC neural coding during a working memory task in rats. Stress suppressed responses of medial PFC (mPFC) neurons strongly tuned to a diversity of task events, including delay and outcome (reward, error). Stress-related impairment of task-related neuronal activity included multidimensional coding by PFC neurons, an action that significantly predicted cognitive impairment. Importantly, the effects of s

SUBMITTER: Devilbiss DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6059199 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature