Fluoxetine reverses stress-induced fimbria-prefrontal long-term potentiation facilitation

Stress has been reported to disrupt the induction of synaptic plasticity in different fimbria target structures. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether chronic mild stress may also affect synaptic plasticity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a fimbria target structure. Fimbria tetanus (100 Hz) did not produce any changes in medial prefrontal cortex synaptic efficacy in non-stressed rats. Rats exposed to chronic mild stress, however, developed significant long-term potentiation. Treatment with fluoxetine (10 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) suppressed long-term potentiation induction in the chronic mild stress group. These data demonstrate that stress not only inhibits long-term potentiation development, as often demonstrated, but can also facilitate long-term potentiation development in certain brain circuits.