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Cited by 107Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorStress Responses and CortisolMemory and Neural Mechanisms

The role of prior stressor controllability and the dorsal raphé nucleus in sucrose preference and social exploration

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Christianson, John P., Paul, Evan D., Irani, Myra, Thompson, Brittany M., Kubala, Kenneth H., Yirmiya, Raz, Watkins, Linda R., Maier, Steven F.·2008·Behavioural Brain Research
DOI 10.1016/j.bbr.2008.04.024PMC PMC2583404
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Abstract

Research investigating how control over stressors affects behavior often utilizes freezing and shuttle escape learning as the behavioral endpoints. These endpoints have been argued to reflect anxious or depressed states, but these descriptions are problematic. The present study sought to determine the impact of stressor controllability and the dorsal raphé nucleus (DRN) on sucrose preference and juvenile social exploration, putative measures of anhedonia and anxiety that are commonly used in studies of stress per se. In Experiment 1 rats were exposed to escapable stress (ES) or yoked-inescapable stress (IS) tailshocks. In Experiment 2 ES or IS was given 7 days before all rats received IS. In Experiment 3 the DRN was inactivated during IS by microinjection of 8-OH-DPAT. Sucrose preference and social exploration were tested for several days after stress. A fourth experiment confirmed that juvenile social exploration is sensitive to traditional beta-carboline and benzodiazepine manipulations. Both ES and IS reduced sucrose preference, but only IS reduced social exploration. Prior treatment with ES prevented the effect of IS on social exploration but did not prevent the effect of IS on sucrose preference and inactivation of the DRN prevented the effect of IS on social exploration but did not change sucrose preference. The present results indicate that social exploration but not sucrose preference is sensitive to prior stressor controllability, and that DRN activation mediates the effect of IS on social exploration. We argue that DRN-5-HT activation mediates a state of generalized anxiety produced by uncontrollable stress and that juvenile social exploration is a useful behavioral endpoint in stressor controllability studies.

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  • Inescapable shock reduces later social investigation of a juvenile, a putative measure of anxiety.

    “inescapable shock reduces later social investigation of a juvenile, a putative measure of anxiety”

    From Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from neuroscience. (2016) · cites this paper as Christianson, Paul, et al., 2008

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Authors
Christianson, J. P., Paul, E. D., Irani, M., Thompson, B. M., Kubala, K. H., Yirmiya, R., Watkins, L. R., & Maier, S. F.
Affiliations
  • University of Colorado Boulder (US)
  • Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
Corresponding author
Christianson, John P.
ORCID
Venue
Behavioural Brain Research
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-11
Volume
193
Issue
1
Pages
87-93
ISSN
0166-4328 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.bbr.2008.04.024
PMC
PMC2583404
OpenAlex
W2001378369
Cited by
107
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 9
FWCI
3.75
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Behavioural Brain Research (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute of Mental Health (MH050479, R37MH050479, R01MH050479)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Keywords
stressor controllability, dorsal raphe nucleus, sucrose preference, social exploration, inescapable stress, 8-OH-DPAT, serotonin, anhedonia, anxiety, young rats, β-carbolines, benzodiazepines
MeSH terms
Animals, Anxiety, Behavior, Animal, Conditioning, Psychological, Electroshock, Food Preferences, Microinjections, Raphe Nuclei, Social Behavior, Stress, Physiological, Sucrose, Time Factors, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Serotonin Receptor Agonists, 8-Hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin, Rats

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