Involvement of hippocampal serotonin and neuropeptide Y in depression induced by chronic unpredicted mild stress.

Full Abstract

Accumulated evidence indicates a role of the hippocampal 5-hydroxy-tryptamine (5-HT) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the response to stress and modulation of depression, but it is unclear whether and how the hippocampal 5-HT and NPY systems make contributions to chronic unpredicted mild stress (CUMS)-induced depression. Here we observed that rats receiving a variety of chronic unpredictable mild stressors for 3 weeks showed a variety of depression-like behavioral changes, including a significant reduction in body weight, sucrose preference, and locomotion, rearing and grooming in open field test, and a significant increase in immobility time in forced swimming test. These CUMS-induced behavioral changes were suppressed or blocked by intra-hippocampal injection of 5-HT (31.25 microg/microl) or NPY (10 microg/microl). These data suggest a critical role of reduced hippocampal 5-HT and NPY neurotransmission in CUMS-induced depression.

Author information

Author/s: Luo, D D (DD); An, S C (SC); Zhang, X (X);

Affiliation: College of Life Science, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province 710062, PR China.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Brain research bulletin (Brain Res Bull), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Sep; vol 77 (issue 1) : pp 8-12

Dates: Created 2008/07/21; Completed 2008/09/11;

PMID: 18579108, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.