Key result
Social interaction conditioned place preference significantly decreased CREB phosphorylation in the basolateral amygdala 24 hours after the CPP test (p=0.0053), suggesting potential anti-stress effects.
Why the study?
While CREB activation by drugs of abuse in reward-related brain regions is known, the effects of natural reward on CREB activation remain under-investigated.
Social interaction reward decreases CREB phosphorylation in the basolateral amygdala 24 hours after testing, suggesting a potential mechanism for its anti-stress effects.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Hypothesis-generating for social interaction's anti-stress effects; leaves open clinical translation pending human studies.
The transcription factor CREB (cAMP response element-binding protein) has been shown to be activated by drugs of abuse in reward-related brain regions. However, the effects of natural reward on CREB activation are under-investigated. Here we investigated the effects of social interaction conditioned place preference (CPP) on CREB phosphorylation at two different time points (early 1 hour and late 24 hours after the CPP test) in various brain regions involved in reward and stress-reactions of 1) rats that express social interaction CPP or 2) control saline rats that received saline in both compartments of the CPP apparatus.
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Rana El Rawas (2019) studied Social interaction reward and stress (n=22). Social interaction conditioned place preference vs. Saline control was evaluated on pCREB expression in the basolateral amygdala 24 hours after the CPP test (p=0.0053). Social interaction conditioned place preference significantly decreased CREB phosphorylation in the basolateral amygdala 24 hours after the CPP test (p=0.0053), suggesting potential anti-stress effects.
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