Critical period plasticity is associated with resilience to short unpredictable stress
Low resilience to stressful events can increase the risk of anxiety and depression. Resilience decreases with age, parallel to drastic changes in the quality of brain plasticity from juvenile to old age, suggesting that the type of plasticity found in the maturing brain promotes resilience. To indir...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1584240/full |
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| author | Robert Williams Charlie Van Den Oord Erica N. Lee Samuel C. Fedde Gia L. Oscherwitz Adema Ribic |
| author_facet | Robert Williams Charlie Van Den Oord Erica N. Lee Samuel C. Fedde Gia L. Oscherwitz Adema Ribic |
| author_sort | Robert Williams |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Low resilience to stressful events can increase the risk of anxiety and depression. Resilience decreases with age, parallel to drastic changes in the quality of brain plasticity from juvenile to old age, suggesting that the type of plasticity found in the maturing brain promotes resilience. To indirectly test this, we administered short unpredictable stress to adult male and female wild type (WT) C57BL/6 mice, as well as to two groups of mice characterized by heightened cortical plasticity: adolescent C57BL/6 WT mice and adult mice that lack SynCAM 1 (Synaptic Cell Adhesion Molecule 1), a critical plasticity brake in the mature brain. We found that short unpredictable stress robustly increased core body temperature in all groups of mice, indicative of stress-induced hyperthermia (SIH) and confirming the efficacy of the stress paradigm. However, depressive-like behavior as measured though tail suspension test was increased in adult WT mice only, supporting that the type of plasticity found in the immature brains of adolescent WT and adult SynCAM 1 knockout (KO) mice promotes resilience to stress. All three groups of mice showed a mild increase in locomotor activity after stress, suggesting that the quality of plasticity does not correlate with resilience to anxiety-like phenotypes. Our study hence provides indirect evidence for the protective role of developmental plasticity during stress and points to new mechanisms that promote resilience to stress-induced depression. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-59571bb2fcd544e6be49907bdb5fc0f4 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1662-5153 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj-art-59571bb2fcd544e6be49907bdb5fc0f42025-08-20T02:16:10ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532025-05-011910.3389/fnbeh.2025.15842401584240Critical period plasticity is associated with resilience to short unpredictable stressRobert Williams0Charlie Van Den Oord1Erica N. Lee2Samuel C. Fedde3Gia L. Oscherwitz4Adema Ribic5Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United StatesDepartment of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United StatesSchool of Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United StatesLow resilience to stressful events can increase the risk of anxiety and depression. Resilience decreases with age, parallel to drastic changes in the quality of brain plasticity from juvenile to old age, suggesting that the type of plasticity found in the maturing brain promotes resilience. To indirectly test this, we administered short unpredictable stress to adult male and female wild type (WT) C57BL/6 mice, as well as to two groups of mice characterized by heightened cortical plasticity: adolescent C57BL/6 WT mice and adult mice that lack SynCAM 1 (Synaptic Cell Adhesion Molecule 1), a critical plasticity brake in the mature brain. We found that short unpredictable stress robustly increased core body temperature in all groups of mice, indicative of stress-induced hyperthermia (SIH) and confirming the efficacy of the stress paradigm. However, depressive-like behavior as measured though tail suspension test was increased in adult WT mice only, supporting that the type of plasticity found in the immature brains of adolescent WT and adult SynCAM 1 knockout (KO) mice promotes resilience to stress. All three groups of mice showed a mild increase in locomotor activity after stress, suggesting that the quality of plasticity does not correlate with resilience to anxiety-like phenotypes. Our study hence provides indirect evidence for the protective role of developmental plasticity during stress and points to new mechanisms that promote resilience to stress-induced depression.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1584240/fullplasticitySynCAM 1stressageresiliencehyperthermia |
| spellingShingle | Robert Williams Charlie Van Den Oord Erica N. Lee Samuel C. Fedde Gia L. Oscherwitz Adema Ribic Critical period plasticity is associated with resilience to short unpredictable stress Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience plasticity SynCAM 1 stress age resilience hyperthermia |
| title | Critical period plasticity is associated with resilience to short unpredictable stress |
| title_full | Critical period plasticity is associated with resilience to short unpredictable stress |
| title_fullStr | Critical period plasticity is associated with resilience to short unpredictable stress |
| title_full_unstemmed | Critical period plasticity is associated with resilience to short unpredictable stress |
| title_short | Critical period plasticity is associated with resilience to short unpredictable stress |
| title_sort | critical period plasticity is associated with resilience to short unpredictable stress |
| topic | plasticity SynCAM 1 stress age resilience hyperthermia |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2025.1584240/full |
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