Dorsal BNST α2A-adrenergic receptors produce HCN-dependent excitatory actions that initiate anxiogenic behaviors
Harris NA, Isaac AT, Günther A, Merkel K, Melchior J, Xu M, Eguakun E, Perez R, Nabit BP, Flavin S, Gilsbach R, Shonesy B, Hein L, Abel T, Baumann A, Matthews R, Centanni SW, Winder DG.
J Neurosci. 2018;38(42):8922-8942.
Stress impacts the development of neuropsychiatric disorders including anxiety and addiction. Guanfacine is an α2A-adrenergic receptor (α2A-AR) agonist with actions in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) that produces antidepressant actions and uncouples stress from reward-related behaviors. Here we show that guanfacine increases dBNST neuronal activity via a mechanism that involves hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide gated cation (HCN) channels.
