Predator odor increases avoidance and glutamatergic synaptic transmission in the prelimbic cortex via corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 1 signaling.

ABSTRACT: Acute exposure to a salient stressor, such as in post-traumatic stress disorder, can have lasting impacts upon an individual and society. To study stress in rodents, some naturalistic methods have included acute exposure to a predator odor, such as the synthetic fox odor 2,4,5, trimethyl-3-thiazoline (TMT). These experiments explore the stress-related behaviors and cortical activity induced by TMT exposure in adult male C57BL/6J mice and the influence of the stress neuropeptide corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) on these responses. Compared to H₂O and a novel odorant, vanilla, mice exposed to TMT in the home cage showed increased avoidance and defensive burying indicative of evident stress responses. Consistent with stress-induced activation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mP

SUBMITTER: Hwa LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6372588 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature