abnormal hippocampal bdnf and mir-16 expression is associated with depression-like behaviors induced by stress during early life海马脑源性神经营养因子和mir-16表达异常与类似抑郁的行为引起的压力在早期的生活.pdfVIP

Abnormal Hippocampal BDNF and miR-16 Expression Is Associated with Depression-Like Behaviors Induced by Stress during Early Life 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Mei Bai , Xiongzhao Zhu *, Yi Zhang , Sheng Zhang , Li Zhang , Liang Xue , Jinyao Yi , Shuqiao Yao , Xiuwu Zhang2 1 Medical Psychological Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China, 2 Departments of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America Abstract Some environmental stressors lead to the onset of depression via inhibiting hippocampal BDNF expression, but other environmental stressors-induced depression exhibits no change in BDNF expression. The underlying mechanisms behind the divergence remain unknown. In this study, depression-like behaviors were induced in rats by maternal deprivation (MD) and chronic unpredictable stress (CUPS). Depression-like behaviors were tested by open field test, forced swimming test, and sucrose consumption test. BDNF and miR-16 expressions in the hippocampus were examined by real-time PCR. MD and CUPS rats crawled less distance, exhibited decreased vertical activity, and produced more fecal pellets than control rats in the open field test. However, MD rats crawled less distance and produced significantly less fecal pellets than CUPS rats. In the forced swimming and sucrose consumption tests, CUPS and MD rats exhibited longer floating time and consumed less sucrose than control rats, but MD rats exhibited shorter floating time and consumed less sucrose than CUPS rats. MD but not CUPS rats showed lower BDNF mRNA and higher miR-16 expression than control rats. In MD rats, BDNF mRNA expression negatively correlated with the expression