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Restraint Stress, Foot Shock and Corticosterone Differentially Alter Autophagy in the Rat Hippocampus, Basolateral Amygdala and Prefrontal Cortex

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Abstract

Autophagy is a conserved lysosomal degradation process that has recently been found to be associated with stress-related psychological diseases. However, previous studies have yielded inconsistent results regarding the effects of various stress patterns on autophagy in different brain regions. This discrepancy may arise from differences in autophagy flux across nuclei, the type of stress experienced, and the timing of autophagy assessment after stress exposure. In this study, we assessed autophagy flux in the rat hippocampus (HPC), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and basal lateral amygdala (BLA) by quantifying protein levels of p-ULK1, LC3-I, LC3-II, and p62 via Western blot analysis at 15 min, 30 min, and 60 min following various stress paradigms: restraint stress, foot shock, single corticosterone injection, and chronic corticosterone treatment. We found that: (1) hippocampal autophagy decreased within 1 h of restraint stress, foot shock, and corticosterone injection, except for a transient increase at 30 min after restraint stress; (2) autophagy increased 1 h after restraint stress and corticosterone injection but decreased 1 h after foot shock in mPFC; (3) In BLA, autophagy increased 1 h after foot shock and corticosterone injection but decreased 1 h after restraint stress; (4) Chronic corticosterone increased autophagy in mPFC and BLA but had no effects in HPC. These findings suggest that stress regulates autophagy in a brain region- and stressor-specific manner within 1 h after stress exposure, which may contribute to the development of stress-related psychological disorders.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (317602777, 82201597), and the Natural Science Foundation of Yunnan Province (202301AT070430).

Funding

This study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (82201597, 31760277) and Natural Science Foundation of Yunnan Province (202301AT070430).

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Author notes

  1. Yanmei Chen, Xiaotao Zhou and Boling Chu have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Basic Medicine, Medical School, Kunming University of Science and Technology, # 727 Jinmingnanlu Street, Kunming, 650550, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China

    Yanmei Chen, Xiaotao Zhou, Boling Chu, Qunqun Xie, Zhenkun Liu, Di Luo & Jichuan Zhang

  2. Clinical Research Institute, Nanhua University Affiliated Nanhua Hospital, Hengyang, 421001, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaotao Zhou

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  1. Yanmei Chen
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Contributions

YC and JZ designed the study; XZ, BC and ZL did the experiment; YC and JZ analyzed data, wrote and revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yanmei Chen or Jichuan Zhang.

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Chen, Y., Zhou, X., Chu, B. et al. Restraint Stress, Foot Shock and Corticosterone Differentially Alter Autophagy in the Rat Hippocampus, Basolateral Amygdala and Prefrontal Cortex. Neurochem Res 49, 492–506 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-023-04048-x

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