| First Author | Dong Y | Year | 2023 |
| Journal | Neuron | PubMed ID | 37776853 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:341721 | Mgi Id | MGI:7542862 |
| Doi | 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.09.004 | Citation | Dong Y, et al. (2023) Stress relief as a natural resilience mechanism against depression-like behaviors. Neuron |
| abstractText | Relief, the appetitive state after the termination of aversive stimuli, is evolutionarily conserved. Understanding the behavioral role of this well-conserved phenomenon and its underlying neurobiological mechanisms are open and important questions. Here, we discover that the magnitude of relief from physical stress strongly correlates with individual resilience to depression-like behaviors in chronic stressed mice. Notably, blocking stress relief causes vulnerability to depression-like behaviors, whereas natural rewards supplied shortly after stress promotes resilience. Stress relief is mediated by reward-related mesolimbic dopamine neurons, which show minute-long, persistent activation after stress termination. Circuitry-wise, activation or inhibition of circuits downstream of the ventral tegmental area during the transient relief period bi-directionally regulates depression resilience. These results reveal an evolutionary function of stress relief in depression resilience and identify the neural substrate mediating this effect. Importantly, our data suggest a behavioral strategy of augmenting positive valence of stress relief with natural rewards to prevent depression. |
