Opposite effects of stress on effortful motivation in high and low anxiety are mediated by CRHR1 in the VTA.

ABSTRACT: Individuals frequently differ in their behavioral and cognitive responses to stress. However, whether motivation is differently affected by acute stress in different individuals remains to be established. By exploiting natural variation in trait anxiety in outbred Wistar rats, we show that acute stress facilitates effort-related motivation in low anxious animals, while dampening effort in high anxious ones. This model allowed us to address the mechanisms underlying acute stress-induced differences in motivated behavior. We show that CRHR1 expression levels in dopamine neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA)-a neuronal type implicated in the regulation of motivation-depend on animals' anxiety, and these differences in CRHR1 expression levels explain the divergent effects of stress on bo

SUBMITTER: Zalachoras I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8942367 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature