| First Author | Penrod RD | Year | 2019 |
| Journal | Genes Brain Behav | Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 7 | Pages | e12561 |
| PubMed ID | 30761730 | Mgi Jnum | J:278912 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6359258 | Doi | 10.1111/gbb.12561 |
| Citation | Penrod RD, et al. (2019) Activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc/Arg3.1) regulates anxiety- and novelty-related behaviors. Genes Brain Behav 18(7):e12561 |
| abstractText | The activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc, also known as Arg3.1) regulates glutamatergic synapse plasticity and has been linked to neuropsychiatric illness; however, its role in behaviors associated with mood and anxiety disorders remains unclear. We find that stress upregulates Arc expression in the adult mouse nucleus accumbens (NAc)-a brain region implicated in mood and anxiety behaviors. Global Arc knockout mice have altered AMPAR-subunit surface levels in the adult NAc, and the Arc-deficient mice show reductions in anxiety-like behavior, deficits in social novelty preference, and antidepressive-like behavior. Viral-mediated expression of Arc in the adult NAc of male, global Arc KO mice restores normal levels of anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze (EPM). Consistent with this finding, viral-mediated reduction of Arc in the adult NAc reduces anxiety-like behavior in male, but not female, mice in the EPM. NAc-specific reduction of Arc also produced significant deficits in both object and social novelty preference tasks. Together our findings indicate that Arc is essential for regulating normal mood- and anxiety-related behaviors and novelty discrimination, and that Arc's function within the adult NAc contributes to these behavioral effects. |
