Cited by 251Stress Responses and CortisolMemory and Neural MechanismsNeuropeptides and Animal Physiology

A common substrate for prefrontal and hippocampal inhibition of the neuroendocrine stress response

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Radley, J. J., Sawchenko, P. E.·2011·Journal of Neuroscience

Abstract

A network of interconnected limbic forebrain cell groups, including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampal formation (HF), is known to shape adaptive responses to emotionally stressful experiences, including output of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. While disruption of limbic HPA-inhibitory systems is implicated in stress-related psychiatric and systemic illnesses, progress in the field has been hampered by a lack of a systems-level understanding of the organization that provides for this regulation. Using rats, we first localized cell groups afferent to the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVH) (the initiator of HPA responses to stress) whose engagement following acute (30 min) restraint was diminished by excitotoxin lesions of the ventral subiculum, a component of the HF. This identified a candidate relay for imparting HF influences in a circumscribed portion of the anterior bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (aBST), which we previously identified as a GABAergic relay subserving mPFC inhibition of the stress axis. Anatomical tracing experiments then indicated that extrinsic projections from HF and mPFC converge onto regions of aBST that contain neurons that are both stress sensitive and PVH projecting. Two final experiments provided evidence that (1) HPA-inhibitory influences of mPFC and HF are additive and (2) aBST plays a more prominent inhibitory role than ventral subiculum over stress-induced HPA endpoints. These findings support the view that stress-inhibitory influences of mPFC and HF are exerted principally via convergence onto a common relay, as opposed to a serial, parallel, or more complex multisynaptic network.

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Crossref · 10.1523/jneurosci.6040-10.2011

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  • The hippocampus inhibits the HPA axis through its fornix outputs to the hypothalamus.

    “The hippocampus inhibits the HPA axis through its fornix outputs to the hypothalamus (59, 63, 64).”

    From Childhood Trauma, the HPA Axis and Psychiatric Illnesses: A Targeted Literature Synthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [64]

    The Discussion section ‘Neural pathways subserving HF HPA-inhibitory influences’ says that damage to the hippocampus or fimbria/fornix exaggerates stress-induced HPA responses, supporting an inhibitory role. It does not establish that inhibition travels through fornix outputs to the hypothalamus; the paper instead identifies a ventral-subiculum-to-anterior-BST relay that projects to the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • The amygdala is principally excitatory to HPA axis functioning, while the hippocampus is mostly inhibitory.

    “While the amygdala is principally excitatory to HPA axis functioning, the hippocampus is mostly inhibitory (63–65).”

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Authors
Radley, J. J., & Sawchenko, P. E.
Affiliations
University of Iowa (US)
Venue
Journal of Neuroscience
Published
2011-06-29
Volume
31
Issue
26
Pages
9683-9695
ISSN
  • 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-2401
OpenAlex
W2072261329
Cited by
251
References
77
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 27 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 23
FWCI
9.39
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
  • National Institutes of Health (DK-26741)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK 26741, P01DK026741)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuropeptides and Animal Physiology
Keywords
neuroendocrine stress response, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, medial prefrontal cortex, hippocampal formation, ventral subiculum, paraventricular nucleus, restraint stress, excitotoxic lesions, limbic forebrain
MeSH terms
Animals, gamma-Aminobutyric Acid, Hippocampus, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Immunohistochemistry, Male, Neurons, Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus, Pituitary-Adrenal System, Stress, Physiological, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Prefrontal Cortex, In Situ Hybridization, Rats

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