Differences in excitatory changes specific to different types of neurons in the prefrontal cortex of rats with an early life stress model of AMEM

Early life (embryo, newborn, early years, etc.
) is a critical period for brain development, and neglect in early life can have irreversible effects
on nervous system and emotional development.
In recent years, it has been reported that brain regions including the prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal lobe, and amygdala are involved in the neural processes
of this emotional behavior.

Preliminary work of Professor Qin Chuan's team at Peking Union Medical College-Institute of Medical Laboratory Animals, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (Sun X et al.
Front Psych.
2020) has confirmed that glutamatergic neurons in the prefrontal cortex are involved in regulating behaviors such as anxiety in model rats with neglect of early life, and intrinsic excitatory changes in neurons in the prefrontal cortex may be the basis for behavioral phenotypes and sex differences in
model rats.

This article further explores the different neuroexcitatory changes of glutamatergic neurons and GABAergic neurons in the prefrontal cortex of rats between male and female rats, and explores the corresponding neural mechanisms
for the behavioral symptoms of disease model animals.

In this study, the maternal separation with early weaning (MSEW) model of rat mother separation (MSEW) was established as a disease model neglected in early life, and glutamatergic neurons and GABAergic neurons in the prefrontal cortex of rats were recorded by whole-cell brain patch patch-clamp, and the changes in the intrinsic excitability of
each group were detected.

The results showed that prefrontal glutamatergic neurons and GABAergic neurons showed neurophysiological changes with different characteristics using neuronal action potential and amplitude, threshold and number as detection indicators: the excitability of glutamatergic neurons increased significantly in the male model group, which was more likely to excite the action potential, and there was no obvious difference in
the female model group.
Different from glutamatergic neurons, the excitability of GABAergic neurons is manifested by the increase of the absolute value of a single action potential threshold in the male and female model groups, which is not easy to excite the action potential
.

Figure 1: Intrinsic excitability analysis of glutamatergic neurons and GABAergic neurons in the prefrontal cortex of rats

In summary, the prefrontal cortex of the early weaning model of rat mother-child isolation showed neuron-specific excitatory changes, and at the same time there were male and female differences, which further caused the excitability-inhibition balance of the prefrontal cortex to change, which provided a neurological basis
for the emotional behavioral phenotype of rat mother-child isolation early weaning.

Original information

Zhang Y, Sun X, Dou C, Li X, Zhang L, Qin C.
Distinct neuronal excitability alterations of medial prefrontal cortex in early-life neglect model of rats.
Animal Model Exp Med.
2022 Sep; 5(3):274-280.
doi: 10.
1002/ame2.
12252.
Epub 2022 Jun 23.
PMID: 35748035; PMCID: PMC9240726.

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Introduction to the journal

AMEM is an international, open access English journal, co-sponsored by the Chinese Society of Laboratory Animals and the Institute of Medical Laboratory Animals of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and published bimonthly in cooperation with Wiley, an internationally renowned publishing group
.
The journal has been included in ESCI, MEDLINE, Scopus, PMC, DOAJ and other databases, and its influence has been internationally recognized
.

AMEM is committed to building an international exchange platform for scientific research such as experimental animal species resources, experimental animal models, experimental medicine, comparative medicine and translational medicine, experimental animal technology, experimental animal welfare, etc.
, and is a professional journal
that pays attention to interdisciplinarity, focuses on the transformation of achievements, and leads the innovation and development of experimental animal science and experimental medicine.

Journal cover display (from left to right):

1.
2018 inaugural issue;

2.
The first issue in March 2020 was the first to publish the research results of the new coronary pneumonia model of rhesus monkeys, and was selected as one of the "Top Ten Progress in Life Sciences in China" in 2020;

3.
The cover will be completely revamped in 2022 and changed from quarterly to bimonthly
.

The journal authors, readers and reviewers come from the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, Brazil, France, Israel and other countries, showing a good international situation
.

The journal brand positioning is accurate
.
Since its inception in 2018, a total of 172 papers have been published
.
The published papers not only have the professional characteristics of experimental animal models, but also have significant interdisciplinary integration characteristics
.
The 2018, 2019 and 2020 articles were cited with a frequency of 6.
543, of which the top 10 cited articles are as follows
.

In 2022, AMEM will continue to strive for the right to publish excellent papers, and completely exempt APC
for high-quality manuscripts.
There is also a 50% discount on the following article types, including Short communication, Technical note, Practice and policy, Meeting report, and AFLAS Focus and Laboratory Animal Welfare and Ethics
。 In addition, in 2022, the journal will continue to promote the construction of academic frontiers and research hot columns, including but not limited to the following directions: (1) research on the mechanism of action of natural medicines; (2) Research on human symbiotic microorganisms; (3) cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases; (4) Central nervous system diseases; (5) Interaction between virus and host; (6) Stem cell direction; (7) Brain science direction; (8) Laboratory animal welfare ethics
.
Welcome to actively participate in the construction of journal columns!

AMEM Submission Website:

https://mc.
manuscriptcentral.
com/amem 

Contact number:

010-67779337

AMEM will take the construction of first-class scientific and technological journals as the goal, take the academic quality of journals as the first lifeline, continue to strengthen the international competitiveness and influence of journals, and become a high-end academic exchange platform with world influence!

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