Chronic stress causes dendritic atrophy of neurons within the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex. In this report, we show that chronic stress leads to reduced long-term potentiation in the pathway from the hippocampus to the medial prefrontal cortex of rats; and that such reduction is rescued by enriched housing environment. Connectivity between the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex is proposed to be an essential substrate that is often compromised in several psychiatric disorders. Our observations suggest that a short period of complexity in the housing environment has the potential to protect the functional integrity of this important connection.

中文翻译：

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压力期间丰富的环境恢复了前额叶 - 海马体的可塑性

慢性压力导致海马和内侧前额叶皮层内神经元的树突状萎缩。在本报告中，我们表明慢性压力会导致从海马到大鼠内侧前额叶皮层的通路中的长期增强作用降低；而这种减少是通过丰富的住房环境来挽救的。海马体和内侧前额叶皮层之间的连接被认为是一种重要的基质，在几种精神疾病中经常受到损害。我们的观察表明，住宅环境的短期复杂性有可能保护这一重要连接的功能完整性。