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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 May 18.
Published in final edited form as: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2008 Dec;1148:509–514. doi: 10.1196/annals.1410.076

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Because prefrontal pERK1/2 covaried with behavioral outcomes (P = 0.03, not shown), we analyzed BDNF, both a target and effector of ERK1/2 implicated in depression, in this region. (A) BDNF in the medial prefrontal cortex (referred to as “mPFC”) did not covary with break point ratios in control mice; (B) however, BDNF significantly covaried with break point ratios in CORT-exposed mice, potentially revealing a major role for the mPFC in motivation and/or sensitivity to outcome value, and suggesting decreased prefrontal BDNF may confer vulnerability for motivational loss in depression. (C) Consistent with the former hypothesis, lesions aimed at the prelimbic mPFC mimicked the persistent effects of CORT on break point ratios. Further experiments aimed at locally manipulating BDNF and ERK1/2 are currently ongoing. (D) Representative region of interest.6 Symbols represent individual animals in (A) and (B) and group means (±SEM) in (C) (*P < 0.05).