Effects of the exploratory behaviors and brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression on the hippocampal neurons in depression-like rats treated with sleep deprivation / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of exploratory behaviors on depression-like rats treated with sleep deprivation,and the mechanism of the point of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).Methods30 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into normal group,depression group and deprivation group,and the depression model of rats were established by chronic unpredictable stress.At the day of 6th,12th,18th,24th the deprivation group was deprived sleep for 24h by the method of multi-platform water environment,and then all groups were on the open-field test.The approach of immunohistochemistry and retrovirus polymerization chain reaction measured BDNF expression level in the hippocampal neurons.ResultsThe four open-field test scores of the day of 6th,12th,18th,24th indicated that the scores of deprivation group was a low-to high trend,and at the open-field test of the 24th day was significantly different compared with depression group(P ＜0.01 ),while no significant difference was found compared with the normal group (P ＞ 0.05 ).Compared with depression group( gray level108.53 ± 4.45,positive area rate0.0747 ± 0.0262 ),BDNF protein expression was significantly higher in the hippocampal neurons of deprivation group( gray level116.00 ±5.61,positive area rate0.2034 ± 0.0352 ) (P ＜ 0.05 ),while there was no significant difference in normal group ( gray level117.27 ±10.66,positive area rate0.2252 ±0.1143 ) (P＞0.05 ).Results of RT-PCR were in accord with that of immunohistochemistry.ConclusionSleep deprivation can improve the exploratory behaviors of depressive rats and the mechanism may be related to the increasing concentration of BDNF in hippocampal neurons.