Effects of age and sex on photoperiod modulation of nucleus accumbens monoamine content and release in adolescence and adulthood

Abstract

Day length, or photoperiod, is a reliable environmental cue encoded by the brain's circadian clock that indicates changing seasons and induces seasonal biological processes. In humans, photoperiod, age, and sex have been linked to seasonality in neuropsychiatric disorders, as seen in Seasonal Affective Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and Bipolar Disorder. The nucleus accumbens is a key locus for the regulation of motivated behaviors and neuropsychiatric disorders. Using periadolescent and young adult male and female mice, here we assessed photoperiod's effect on serotonin and dopamine tissue content in the nucleus accumbens core, as well as on accumbal synaptic dopamine release and uptake. We found greater serotonin and dopamine tissue content in the nucleus accumbens from young adult mice raised in a Short winter-like photoperiod. In addition, dopamine release and clearance were greater in the nucleus accumbens from young adult mice raised in a Long summer-like photoperiod. Importantly, we found that photoperiod's effects on accumbal dopamine tissue content and release were sex-specific to young adult females. These findings support that in mice there are interactions across age, sex, and photoperiod that impact critical monoamine neuromodulators in the nucleus accumbens which may provide mechanistic insight into the age and sex dependencies in seasonality of neuropsychiatric disorders in humans.