ABSTRACT
AIM:To explore the depression-like behavior and cystathionine β-synthase (CBS)/hydrogen sulfide (H2S) levels of amygdala in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rats and to study the effect of exogenous H2S on PTSD rats.METHODS:Single prolonged stress paradigm was adopted to prepare PTSD animal model.Forced swimming test and sucrose preference test were used to evaluate the depression-like behavior.The content of CBS/H2S in amygdala tissue was measured by Western blot and methylene blue method.In vivo extracellular single unit recordings was used to examine the frequency of spontaneous discharges of amygdala neurons.RESULTS:The immobility time in forced swimming test of PTSD group increased and sucrose preference in sucrose preference test of PTSD group decreased compare with normal group (P<0.01).CBS/H2S level in amygdala tissue of PTSD group decreased compared with normal group (P<0.01).The immobility time of the rats in forced swimming test of NaHS+PTSD group decreased and the sucrose prefe-rence in sucrose preference test of NaHS+PTSD group increased compare with PTSD group (P<0.01).L-cysteine increased the frequency of spontaneous discharges of amygdala neurons (P<0.01).CONCLUSION:Depression-like behavior is aggravated in PTSD model rats owing to the inhibition of CBS/H2S content in amygdala tissue.The mechanism of behavior-improving effect of H2S on PTSD model rats is possibly related to excitating amygdala neurons and increasing the frequency of spontaneous discharges.