Short- and long-term consequences of stressor controllability in adolescent rats

► A rat model to study the effects of controllable stress in adolescence was tested. ► Adolescent subjects were sensitive to the behavioral control dimension. ► Adolescent controllable stress blunted the effects of adult uncontrollable stress. ► Stressor control during adolescence decreased DRN 5-HT activity after stress. ► The mPFC is critical for the acute effects of an adolescent controllable stressor. Adolescence is a developmental period in which brain structures involved with stress responses, such as the medial pre-frontal cortex (mPFC), mature. Therefore, exposure to a stressor at this time may have effects that endure the lifespan. The goal of the present study was to determine whether behavioral control over an adolescent stressor mitigates the behavioral and neurochemical consequences of the stressor as occurs in adult rats. Adolescent rats (post natal day 35) were exposed to either inescapable (IS) or escapable tailshocks (ES). As in adults we observed a “stressor controllability effect”; IS reduced social exploration and activated the serotonergic dorsal raphé nucleus while ES did not. Excitotoxic lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex prevented the stressor controllability effect. We also demonstrate that a controllable adolescent stress prevents the behavioral and neurochemical consequences of IS in adulthood. Thus, the controllability of a stressor during adolescence is an important psychological factor.