Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 1, 2026
Author Spotlight: Understanding Adolescent Social Adversity Effects on Neurodevelopment in Mice
Published on: March 15, 2024
Regional differences in dendritic spine density confer resilience to chronic social defeat stress
Youge Qu1, Chun Yang1, Qian Ren1
1Division of Clinical Neuroscience,Chiba University Center for Forensic Mental Health,Chiba,Japan.
Objective:
Although alterations in the dendritic spine density in the brain regions may play a role in the stress-induced depression-like phenotype, the precise mechanisms are unknown. The aim was to investigate the role of spine density in the brain regions after chronic social defeat stress (CSDS).
Methods:
We examined dendritic spine density in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), CA1, CA3, dentate gyrus (DG) of hippocampus, nucleus accumbens (NAc), and ventral tegmental area (VTA) of susceptible and resilient mice after CSDS.
Results:
Spine density in the prelimbic area of mPFC, CA3, and DG in the susceptible group, but not resilient group, was significantly lower than control group. In contrast, spine density in the NAc and VTA in the susceptible group, but not resilient group, was significantly higher than control group.
Conclusions:
The results suggest that regional differences in spine density may contribute to resilience versus susceptibility in mice subjected to CSDS.
