Opposite Role of Infralimbic and Prelimbic Cortex in the Tachycardiac Response Evoked by Acute Restraint Stress in Rats

The ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) comprises the prelimbic cortex (PL) and the infralimbic cortex (IL). Conflicting results have been reported from studies aiming to investigate the role played by the vMPFC in behavioral and autonomic responses evoked in rodents exposed to experimental protocols that promote defense responses. Acute restraint is an unavoidable stress situation that evokes marked and sustained cardiovascular changes, which are characterized by elevated blood pressure (BP) and intense heart rate (HR) increases. We report here a comparison between the effects of pharmacological inhibition of IL and PL neurotransmission on BP and HR responses evoked by acute restraint in rats. Bilateral microinjection of 200 nl of the unspecific synaptic blocker COCl2 (1 mM) into the PL increased HR response associated with restraint, without affecting the restraint-induced BP response. However, when local synapses in the IL were inhibited by bilateral injection Of COCl2 into that area, the restraint-induced HR increases were significantly reduced, without a significant effect on the concomitant BP response. No responses were observed when COCl2 was microinjected into structures surrounding the vMPFC, such as the cingulate cortex area 1, the corpus callosum, or the tenia tecta. The present results confirm the involvement of the vMPFC in modulation of the tachycardiac response evoked by acute restraint but not of the restraint-evoked blood pressure response. They also indicate that the IL and PL areas have opposite roles in the cardiac response, facilitating and reducing, respectively, restraint-evoked tachycardiac responses. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.