ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the effect of early intervention with electroacupuncture (EA) on the gut microbiota in a mouse model of post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD).Methods:Totally 32 C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned to the following 4 groups ( n=8 for each group): Control group, EA group, PTSD group and PTSD+ EA group.After 7 days acclimation, mice in the PTSD group and PTSD+ EA group were subjected to modified single prolonged stress (mSPS). Mice in the EA group and PTSD+ EA group received EA (2/15 Hz, 1 mA, dilatational wave, 30 min/d) on "Baihui" for 7 days. Mice in the Control group and PTSD group received false stimulation (stimulated the same acupiont without electricity) for 7 days. Seven days after the last stimulation, elevated plus maze test and fear conditioning test were conducted to observe the effect of EA on PTSD-like behavior of mice. At the same time, feces of the mice were collected for gut microbiota detection by 16S rRNA sequencing.SPSS 19.0 was used for statistical analysis.One-way ANOVA was used for multiple group comparison and Bonferrani test was done for further pairwise comparision. Results:(1) There were statistically differences in the open arm activity time of the elevated plus maze test and the immobility time in contextual and cued fear conditioning test among the four groups ( F=6.93, 5.26, 14.51, all P<0.01). In the elevated plus maze test, mice in PTSD group ((60.17±15.52) s) showed significant less time in the open arms than mice in Control group((96.37±14.62) s) and PTSD+ EA group ((86.89±15.02) s) (both P<0.05). In the fear conditioning test, mice in PTSD group ((121.99±29.67) s, (130.82±29.11) s) showed significant increased immobility time both in contextual and cued fear conditioning tests than mice in Control group((74.50±26.65) s, (39.50±23.52) s) and PTSD+ EA group ((76.77±22.60) s, (102.17±3.39) s)(both P<0.05). (2) There were no significant differences among the four groups in the alpha diversity of gut microbiota ( F=0.79-2.45, all P>0.05). (3)Correlation analysis showed that 13 gut microbiotas were negatively correlated with the immobility time in contextual fear conditioning test, 2 gut microbiotas were positively correlated with it; 7 gut microbiotas were negatively correlated with the immobility time in cued fear conditioning test, 1 gut microbiota was positively correlated with it; 3 gut microbiotas were positively correlated with time spent in open arms of elevated plus maze test. Conclusion:Early intervention with EA can improve anxiety-fear like behaviors and gut microflora disorder in PTSD model mice.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of sertraline on the viability and the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and phosphorylated ERK1/2 in NGF-induced rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells.Methods NGF-induced PC12 cells were pretreated or directly treated with different concentrations of sertraline for 24 or 48 hours and the pretreated groups were then subjected to serum withdrawal condition. Then cell viability was determined by the cell counting Kit-8 (CCK-8). The expression of Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and pERK1/2in NGF-induced PC12 cells was determined by immunohistochemistry and western blot respectively. Results The viability of NGF-induced PC12 was improved after administration with sertra]ine. After 24h sertraline administration, the cells activity of PC 12 cells at 20μM ( 1.32 ± 0. 11 ) , 10μM ( 1. 17 ± 0.05 ) of direct effect, and 20μM ( 1.15 ±0.11 ) of protect effect increased dramatically as compared with control group. But high dose ( 50μM )sertraline express high toxic effect to PC12 cells. The expression of TH was increased by sertraline 20 μM at both 24h(ratio of TH/β-actin = 1.27 ±0.05) and 48h(ratio of TH/β-actin = 1. 23 ±0.08) compare with control group,and the expression of pERK1/2 also increased dramatically by sertraline 20 μM at both 24h (ratio of (pERK1/2)/β-actin = 1.41±0.05) and 48h( ratio of (pERK1/2)/β-actin = 1.40 ±0.06) compare with control group(P＜0. 01, P ＜ 0. 05). Immunohistochemistry showed similar results. Conclusion These data suggest that the neuroprotective effect of sertraline may play an important role in depression therapy, and this effect might be mediated by TH and pERK1/2 up-regulation.