The Impact of Early Life Adversity on Mediodorsal Thalamic-Prefrontal Cortex Maturation

Exposure to early life adversity (ELA) is known to disturb neural development and interfere with neural circuit function, causing long-lasting adverse effects on cognitive and affective behaviors. The basis for this is thought to be linked to developmental disruption of neural circuits underpinning these behaviors during a discrete developmental window. At the center of cognitive and affective behaviors is the prefrontal cortex (PFC) which receives inputs from various brain regions, including the mediodorsal thalamus (MD), and undergoes a protracted maturation. Thus, it’s conceivable that ELA exposure during a sensitive window of MD development may disrupt PFC maturation. To this end we used in vivo electrophysiology to assess the functionality of the MD-PFC pathway following ELA exposure during distinct MD developmental windows. We found that the pattern of PFC local field potential (LFP) responses to MD train stimulation is developmentally regulated through adolescence and is impacted by ELA exposure. Typically, the pattern of MD-evoked PFC LFP facilitation at 10Hz is dependent on local NMDAR whereas the LFP suppression at 20Hz and 40Hz is mediated by local GABA- AR. Following P2-20 maternal separation ELA, the facilitation pattern and suppression patterns were attenuated. Interestingly, rats exposed to P2-10 maternal separation ELA showed normal facilitation and suppression patterns. However, rats exposed to P11-20 maternal separation ELA reproduced the attenuated LFP facilitation and suppression patterns seen in the P2-20 maternal separation ELA rats. Collectively, these results reveal a distinct MD developmental window that is sensitive to disruption by ELA and compromise PFC maturation.

Author dc:creator

• Demetria D Neal (24399620)

• Biology
• Neuroscience

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.25417/uic.32994032.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/32994032