Neural mechanism of acute stress regulation by trace aminergic signalling in the lateral habenula in male mice

Soo Hyun Yang, Esther Yang, Jaekwang Lee, Jin Yong Kim, Hyeijung Yoo, Hyung Sun Park, Jin Taek Jung, Dongmin Lee, Sungkun Chun, Yong Sang Jo, Gyeong Hee Pyeon, Jae-Yong Park, Hyun Woo Lee () and Hyun Kim ()
Additional contact information
Soo Hyun Yang: Korea University
Esther Yang: Korea University
Jaekwang Lee: Korea Food Research Institute
Jin Yong Kim: Korea University
Hyeijung Yoo: Korea University
Hyung Sun Park: Korea University
Jin Taek Jung: Korea University
Dongmin Lee: Korea University
Sungkun Chun: Jeonbuk National University Medical School
Yong Sang Jo: Korea University
Gyeong Hee Pyeon: Korea University
Jae-Yong Park: Graduate School, Korea University
Hyun Woo Lee: Korea University
Hyun Kim: Korea University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Abstract Stress management is necessary for vertebrate survival. Chronic stress drives depression by excitation of the lateral habenula (LHb), which silences dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) via GABAergic neuronal projection from the rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg). However, the effect of acute stress on this LHb-RMTg-VTA pathway is not clearly understood. Here, we used fluorescent in situ hybridisation and in vivo electrophysiology in mice to show that LHb aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase-expressing neurons (D-neurons) are activated by acute stressors and suppress RMTg GABAergic neurons via trace aminergic signalling, thus activating VTA dopaminergic neurons. We show that the LHb regulates RMTg GABAergic neurons biphasically under acute stress. This study, carried out on male mice, has elucidated a molecular mechanism in the efferent LHb-RMTg-VTA pathway whereby trace aminergic signalling enables the brain to manage acute stress by preventing the hypoactivity of VTA dopaminergic neurons.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38180-7 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-38180-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38180-7

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().