所在院系：脑科学与脑医学系

申报人：崔一卉

机体如何感知外界压力，并整合转化为内在情绪？团队发现外侧下丘脑-外侧缰核环路在压力过程中的“压力密码”。该研究通过光遗传方式在小鼠大脑中注入“压力密码”，成功地在未经历压力的小鼠上诱导出稳定的抑郁状态。

We identify lateral hypothalamus (LH) as the most physiologically relevant input to LHb under stress. LH neurons fire with a unique pattern in response to various stressors, which drives synaptic potentiation that is determinant in stress-induced depression. Mimicking this repeated “stress code” at LH-LHb synapses by photostimulation, we artificially induced an ‘‘emotional status’’ merely by potentiating this pathway in mice. Collectively, these results delineate the spatiotemporal dynamics of chronic stress processing from forebrain onto LHb, shedding light on early interventions before depression onset.

abstract图：下丘脑-缰核环路以压力-簇状放电学习偶联模式，特异性介导抑郁症发生发展。提取该环路的“压力密码”并通过光遗传手段注射到正常小鼠大脑中，能改造情绪环路的可塑性，植入“压力经历”的记忆并直接诱导小鼠产生抑郁情绪。

cover图

Hypothalamus-habenula potentiation encodes chronic stress experience and drives depression onset. Z Zheng#, C Guo#, M Li, L Yang, P Liu, X Zhang, Y Liu, X Guo, S Cao, Y Dong, C Zhang, M Chen, J Xu, H Hu, and Y Cui*. Neuron. 2022. Cover story