FIGURE 4.

Graphic summary of short- and long-term functional and neuroarchitectural effects in prefrontal cortex (PFC) synapses after acute FS stress. The fast and transient increase in CORT release induced by acute FS stress was accompanied by the rapid increase in both depolarization-evoked and hypertonic sucrose-evoked (RRP) glutamate release in PFC, and the number of small excitatory synapses. The enhancement of glutamate release was sustained for up to 24 h, as well as the increased number of excitatory synapses, which normalized between 24 h and 7 days after FS. Before 24 h had elapsed from the start of FS stress, retraction of apical dendrites began and was sustained for up to 14 days. The timing of actual FS stress (40 min) is indicated by the red mark. Number of excitatory synapses and apical dendrite length are indicative and not in scale with other readouts. From Musazzi et al. (2017).