ArticleCell reports2021
Dysregulation of the mesoprefrontal dopamine circuit mediates an early-life stress-induced synaptic imbalance in the prefrontal cortex.
Article in Cell reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Advancements in pediatric obstructive sleep apnea: cognitive implications and the role of AI in precision medicine.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Early life experiences, the neural epigenome and affective disorder risk.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2026Review
- Article
- Neurodevelopmental effects of early life stress: PFC and cognition.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Preventing traumatic stress-induced behavioral abnormalities in rats with blue light phototherapy.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Peripheral CD4Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Early life stress and altered social behaviors: A perspective across species.Neuroscience research · 2025Review
- Development of the rodent prefrontal cortex: circuit formation, plasticity, and impacts of early life stress.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2025Review
- Epigenetic Modifications and Neuroplasticity in the Pathogenesis of Depression: A Focus on Early Life Stress.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Hyperexcitation of ovBNST CRF neurons during stress contributes to female-biased expression of anxiety-like avoidance behaviors.Science advances · 2024Article
- Serotonin modulates excitatory synapse maturation in the developing prefrontal cortex.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Chronic Stress in Early Development and Effects on Traumatic Brain Injury Outcome.Advances in neurobiology · 2024Review
- Global research trends on maternal separation paradigms as an early life stress model: A bibliometric analysis.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Sex- and exposure age-dependent effects of adolescent stress on ventral tegmental area dopamine system and its afferent regulators.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Article
- Early Life Stress Alters Expression of Glucocorticoid Stress Response Genes and Trophic Factor Transcripts in the Rodent Basal Ganglia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Lateral Habenula Beyond Avoidance: Roles in Stress, Memory, and Decision-Making With Implications for Psychiatric Disorders.Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2022Article
- Early life adversity affecting the attachment bond alters ventral tegmental area transcriptomic patterning and behavior almost exclusively in female mice.Neurobiology of stress · 2021Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Stress adversely affects an array of cognitive functions. Although stress-related disorders are often addressed in adulthood, far less is known about how early-life stress (ELS) affects the developing brain in early postnatal periods. Here we show that ELS, induced by maternal separation, leads to synaptic alteration of layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of mice. We find that layer 2/3 neurons show increased excitatory synapse numbers following ELS and that this is accompanied by hyperexcitability of PFC-projecting dopamine (DA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area. Notably, excitatory synaptic change requires local signaling through DA D2 receptors. In vivo pharmacological treatment with a D2 receptor agonist in the PFC of control mice mimics the effects of ELS on synaptic alterations. Our findings reveal a neuromodulatory mechanism underlying ELS-induced PFC dysfunction, and this mechanism may facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of how ELS leads to mental disorders.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.