Chronic Unpredictable Stress Reduces Immunostaining for Connexins 43 and 30 and Myelin Basic Protein in the Rat Prelimbic and Orbitofrontal Cortices.

Low Cx43 and Cx30 after chronic unpredictable stress in rat prelimbic cortex and orbitofrontal cortex suggests that reduced astrocytic gap junction density may generalize to the entire prefrontal cortex. Concurrent reduction of Cx43-, Cx30-, and myelin basic protein-immunolabeled structures is consistent with a mechanism linking changes in astrocyte gap junction proteins and disturbed myelin morphology in depression.