Oxytocin is implicated in social memory deficits induced by early sensory deprivation in mice.

Early-life sensory input plays a crucial role in brain development. Although deprivation of orofacial sensory input at perinatal stages disrupts the establishment of the barrel cortex and relevant callosal connections, its long-term effect on adult behavior remains elusive. In this study, we investigated the behavioral phenotypes in adult mice with unilateral transection of the infraorbital nerve (ION) at postnatal day 3 (P3). Although ION-transected mice had normal locomotor activity, motor coordination, olfaction, anxiety-like behaviors, novel object memory, preference for social novelty and sociability, they presented deficits in social memory and spatial memory compared with control mice. In addition, the social memory deficit was associated with reduced oxytocin (OXT) levels in the hypothalamus and could be partially restored by intranasal administration of OXT. Thus, early sensory deprivation does result in behavioral alterations in mice, some of which may be associated with the disruption of oxytocin signaling.

Sensitivity during the forced swim test is a key factor in evaluating the antidepressant effects of abscisic acid in mice.

Abscisic acid (ABA), a crucial phytohormone, is distributed in the brains of mammals and has been shown to have antidepressant effects in the chronic unpredictable mild stress test. The forced swim test (FST) is another animal model that can be used to assess antidepressant-like behavior in rodents. Here, we report that the antidepressant effects of ABA are associated with sensitivities to the FST in mice. Based on mean immobility in the 5-min forced swim pre-test, ICR mice were divided into short immobility mice (SIM) and long immobility mice (LIM) substrains. FST was carried out 8 days after drug administration. Learned helplessness, as shown by increased immobility, was only observed in SIM substrain and could be prevented by an 8-day ABA treatment. Our results show that ABA has antidepressant effects in SIM substrain and suggest that mice with learned helplessness might be more suitable for screening potential antidepressant drugs.

Antidepressant effects of abscisic acid mediated by the downregulation of corticotrophin-releasing hormone gene expression in rats.

BACKGROUND: Corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) is considered to be the central driving force of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which plays a key role in the stress response and depression. Clinical reports have suggested that excess retinoic acid (RA) is associated with depression. Abscisic acid (ABA) and RA are direct derivatives of carotenoids and share a similar molecular structure. Here, we proposed that ABA also plays a role in the regulation of CRH activity sharing with the RA signaling pathway. METHODS: [3H]-ABA radioimmunoassay demonstrated that the hypothalamus of rats shows the highest concentration of ABA compared with the cortex and the hippocampus under basal conditions. RESULTS: Under acute stress, ABA concentrations increased in the serum, but decreased in the hypothalamus and were accompanied by increased corticosterone in the serum and c-fos expression in the hypothalamus. Moreover, chronic ABA administration increased sucrose intake and decreased the mRNA expression of CRH and retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARα) in the hypothalamus of rats. Furthermore, ABA improved the symptom of chronic unpredictable mild stress in model rats, as indicated by increased sucrose intake, increased swimming in the forced swim test, and reduced mRNA expression of CRH and RARα in the rat hypothalamus. In vitro, CRH expression decreased after ABA treatment across different neural cells. In BE(2)-C cells, ABA inhibited a series of retinoid receptor expression, including RARα, a receptor that could facilitate CRH expression directly. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that ABA may play a role in the pathogenesis of depression by downregulating CRH mRNA expression shared with the RA signaling pathway.

Imbalance of leptin pathway and hypothalamus synaptic plasticity markers are associated with stress-induced depression in rats.

Increasing evidences have indicated that chronic stress is a contributing risk factor in the development of psychiatric illnesses including depression. The mechanisms of their psychopathology are multifaceted and include, besides others, alterations in neuroendocrine function and brain plasticity. In the present study, we investigated the behavior of stressed animals by the sucrose preference test, open field test (OFT), forced swimming test (FST), and tail-suspension test (TST). The response of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leptin pathway, and synaptic plasticity markers in the hypothalamus were also detected. Our data demonstrated that chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) could induce depression-like behavior in rat model, accompanied with the hyperactivity of HPA axis. The serum leptin level and hypothalamic mRNA expression of leptin receptor (LEPR) were both decreased. Results of Pearson test showed that the decreased serum leptin level was negatively related with the locomotion and rearing frequency in the open-field test, and the hypothalamic mRNA expression of LEPR was inversely related to serum CORT concentration. Moreover, our results showed that the mRNA expression of synaptotagmin I and synapsin I was both increased in the hypothalamus of CUMS rats, providing new evidence for the synaptic plasticity change in the hypothalamus of depressive rats. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that the mRNA expression of synaptotagmin I, but not synapsin I, was correlated with the depression-like behaviors and HPA axis hyperactivity in CUMS rats. Together with our previous results, the current findings suggested that a CUMS rat model could be effectively used to study molecular mechanisms underling the depressive symptomatology.