Effective evaluation of costs and benefits is a core survival capacity that in humans is considered as optimal, "rational" decision-making. This capacity is vulnerable in neuropsychiatric disorders and in the aftermath of chronic stress, in which aberrant choices and high-risk behaviors occur. We report that chronic stress exposure in rodents produces abnormal evaluation of costs and benefits resembling non-optimal decision-making in which choices of high-cost/high-reward options are sharply increased. Concomitantly, alterations in the task-related spike activity of medial prefrontal neurons correspond with increased activity of their striosome-predominant striatal projection neuron targets and with decreased and delayed striatal fast-firing interneuron activity. These effects of chronic stress on prefronto-striatal circuit dynamics could be blocked or be mimicked by selective optogenetic manipulation of these circuits. We suggest that altered excitation-inhibition dynamics of striosome-based circuit function could be an underlying mechanism by which chronic stress contributes to disorders characterized by aberrant decision-making under conflict. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

中文翻译：

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慢性应激会改变纹状体-回路动力学，导致异常的决策制定。

有效地评估成本和收益是人类的核心生存能力，被认为是最佳的，“理性的”决策。这种能力在神经精神疾病和慢性应激后很脆弱，在慢性应激中会出现异常的选择和高风险行为。我们报告说，啮齿动物的慢性应激暴露会产生类似于非最优决策的成本和收益异常评估，在非最优决策中，高成本/高回报选项的选择急剧增加。同时，内侧前额叶神经元与任务相关的突波活动的改变与它们以纹状体为主的纹状体投射神经元靶标的活性增加以及纹状体速发性中间神经元活动的减少和延迟相对应。慢性应激对前额叶纹状体回路动力学的这些影响可以通过对这些回路的选择性光遗传学操纵来阻止或模仿。我们建议，改变基于核小体的电路功能的兴奋抑制动力学可能是一种潜在的机制，通过这种机制，慢性应激会导致以冲突下的异常决策为特征的疾病。视频摘要。