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Rodriguez M, Themann A, Calvo DE, Garcia JA, Lira O, Garcia-Carachure I, Iñiguez SD. Social defeat stress induces an anxiety-like outcome in male prairie voles ( Microtus ochrogaster). OXFORD OPEN NEUROSCIENCE 2024; 3:kvae012. [PMID: 39660167 PMCID: PMC11629977 DOI: 10.1093/oons/kvae012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2024] [Revised: 11/11/2024] [Accepted: 11/22/2024] [Indexed: 12/12/2024]
Abstract
Anxiety-related illnesses constitute one of the leading causes of disability across the globe. Consequently, the need for validated preclinical models to uncover the etiology of anxiety phenotypes remains essential. Given the link between social stress experience and the manifestation of anxiogenic-like outcomes, we evaluated whether social defeat stress (SDS) reduces open-space exploratory behavior in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). Thus, we exposed adult sexually-naïve male voles to 10 consecutive days of SDS episodes and evaluated responses to the anxiogenic environment of the light/dark box test or the elevated plus-maze, 24 hours later. We found that, when compared to non-stressed controls, SDS-exposed voles displayed longer latency to enter the light compartment of the light/dark box. Similarly, on the elevated plus-maze, SDS-exposed voles displayed decreases in the number of entries into the open arms, while spending more time in the closed arms of the maze. No differences in locomotor activity were noted between the experimental groups. Collectively, these data indicate that chronic SDS exposure induces anxiety-like responses in adult male prairie voles, thus, providing a preclinical model for the study of social stress-induced anxiogenic phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minerva Rodriguez
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968
| | - Anapaula Themann
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968
| | - Daniel E Calvo
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968
| | - Jessica A Garcia
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968
| | - Omar Lira
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968
| | | | - Sergio D Iñiguez
- Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968
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Hashikawa-Hobara N, Fujiwara K, Hashikawa N. CGRP causes anxiety via HP1γ-KLF11-MAOB pathway and dopamine in the dorsal hippocampus. Commun Biol 2024; 7:322. [PMID: 38503899 PMCID: PMC10951359 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-05937-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is a neuropeptide that causes anxiety behavior; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We found that CGRP modulates anxiety behavior by epigenetically regulating the HP1γ-KLF-11-MAOB pathway and depleting dopamine in the dorsal hippocampus. Intracerebroventricular administration of CGRP (0.5 nmol) elicited anxiety-like behaviors in open field, hole-board, and plus-maze tests. Additionally, we observed an increase in monoamine oxidase B (MAOB) levels and a concurrent decrease in dopamine levels in the dorsal hippocampus of mice following CGRP administration. Moreover, CGRP increased abundance the transcriptional regulator of MAOB, Krüppel-like factor 11 (KLF11), and increased levels of phosphorylated heterochromatin protein (p-HP1γ), which is involved in gene silencing, by methylating histone H3 in the dorsal hippocampus. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay showed that HP1γ was recruited to the Klf11 enhancer by CGRP. Furthermore, infusion of CGRP (1 nmol) into the dorsal hippocampus significantly increased MAOB expression as well as anxiety-like behaviors, which were suppressed by the pharmacological inhibition or knockdown of MAOB. Together, these findings suggest that CGRP reduces dopamine levels and induces anxiety-like behavior through epigenetic regulation in the dorsal hippocampus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Narumi Hashikawa-Hobara
- Department of Life Science, Okayama University of Science, 1-1 Ridai-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama, 700-0005, Japan.
| | - Kyoshiro Fujiwara
- Department of Life Science, Okayama University of Science, 1-1 Ridai-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama, 700-0005, Japan
| | - Naoya Hashikawa
- Department of Life Science, Okayama University of Science, 1-1 Ridai-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama, 700-0005, Japan
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Current Understanding of the Neural Circuitry in the Comorbidity of Chronic Pain and Anxiety. Neural Plast 2022; 2022:4217593. [PMID: 35211169 PMCID: PMC8863453 DOI: 10.1155/2022/4217593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2021] [Revised: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Chronic pain patients often develop mental disorders, and anxiety disorders are common. We hypothesize that the comorbid anxiety results from an imbalance between the reward and antireward system due to persistent pain, which leads to the dysfunction of the pain and anxiety regulatory system. In this review, we will focus on changes in neuroplasticity, especially in neural circuits, during chronic pain and anxiety as observed in animal studies. Several neural circuits within specific regions of the brain, including the nucleus accumbens, lateral habenular, parabrachial nucleus, medial septum, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, will be discussed based on novel findings after chemogenetic or optogenetic manipulation. We believe that these animal studies provide novel insights into human conditions and can guide clinical practice.
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The ERK phosphorylation levels in the amygdala predict anxiety symptoms in humans and MEK/ERK inhibition dissociates innate and learned defensive behaviors in rats. Mol Psychiatry 2021; 26:7257-7269. [PMID: 34316004 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-021-01203-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2020] [Revised: 05/24/2021] [Accepted: 06/18/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
We demonstrate that the rate of extracellular signal-related kinase phosphorylation (P-ERK1,2/Total-ERK1,2) in the amygdala is negatively and independently associated with anxiety symptoms in 23 consecutive patients with drug-resistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy that was surgically treated. In naive Wistar rats, the P-ERK1,2/Total-ERK1,2 ratio in the amygdala correlates negatively with innate anxiety-related behavior on the elevated plus maze (n = 20) but positively with expression of defensive-learned behavior (i.e., freezing) on Pavlovian aversive (fear) conditioning (n = 29). The microinfusion of ERK1/2 inhibitor (FR180204, n = 8-13/group) or MEK inhibitor (U0126, n = 8-9/group) into the basolateral amygdala did not affect anxiety-related behavior but impaired the evocation (anticipation) of conditioned-defensive behavior (n = 9-11/group). In conclusion, the P-ERK1,2/Total-ERK1,2 ratio in the amygdala predicts anxiety in humans and the innate anxiety- and conditioned freezing behaviors in rats. However, the ERK1/2 in the basolateral AMY is only required for the expression of defensive-learned behavior. These results support a dissociate ERK-dependent mechanism in the amygdala between innate anxiety-like responses and the anticipation of learned-defensive behavior. These findings have implications for understanding highly prevalent psychiatric disorders related to the defensive circuit manifested by anxiety and fear. HIGHLIGHTS: The P-ERK1,2/Total-ERK1,2 ratio in the amygdala (AMY) correlates negatively with anxiety symptoms in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. The P-ERK1,2/Total-ERK1,2 in the amygdala correlates negatively with the anxiety-like behavior and positively with freezing-learned behavior in naive rats. ERK1,2 in the basolateral amygdala is required for learned-defensive but not for the anxiety-like behavior expression in rats.
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Adolescent fluoxetine treatment mediates a persistent anxiety-like outcome in female C57BL/6 mice that is ameliorated by fluoxetine re-exposure in adulthood. Sci Rep 2021; 11:7758. [PMID: 33833356 PMCID: PMC8032660 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-87378-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate whether juvenile fluoxetine (FLX) exposure induces long-term changes in baseline responses to anxiety-inducing environments, and if so, whether its re-exposure in adulthood would ameliorate this anxiety-like phenotype. An additional goal was to assess the impact of adolescent FLX pretreatment, and its re-exposure in adulthood, on serotonin transporters (5-HTT) and brain-derived-neurotrophic-factor (BDNF)-related signaling markers (TrkB-ERK1/2-CREB-proBDNF-mBDNF) within the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. To do this, female C57BL/6 mice were exposed to FLX in drinking water during postnatal-days (PD) 35–49. After a 21-day washout-period (PD70), mice were either euthanized (tissue collection) or evaluated on anxiety-related tests (open field, light/dark box, elevated plus-maze). Juvenile FLX history resulted in a persistent avoidance-like profile, along with decreases in BDNF-signaling markers, but not 5-HTTs or TrkB receptors, within both brain regions. Interestingly, FLX re-exposure in adulthood reversed the enduring FLX-induced anxiety-related responses across all behavioral tasks, while restoring ERK2-CREB-proBDNF markers to control levels and increasing mBDNF within the prefrontal cortex, but not the hippocampus. Collectively, these results indicate that adolescent FLX history mediates neurobehavioral adaptations that endure into adulthood, which are indicative of a generalized anxiety-like phenotype, and that this persistent effect is ameliorated by later-life FLX re-exposure, in a prefrontal cortex-specific manner.
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Su S, Li M, Wu D, Cao J, Ren X, Tao YX, Zang W. Gene Transcript Alterations in the Spinal Cord, Anterior Cingulate Cortex, and Amygdala in Mice Following Peripheral Nerve Injury. Front Cell Dev Biol 2021; 9:634810. [PMID: 33898422 PMCID: PMC8059771 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.634810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2020] [Accepted: 03/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Chronic neuropathic pain caused by nerve damage is a most common clinical symptom, often accompanied by anxiety- and depression-like symptoms. Current treatments are very limited at least in part due to incompletely understanding mechanisms underlying this disorder. Changes in gene expression in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) have been acknowledged to implicate in neuropathic pain genesis, but how peripheral nerve injury alters the gene expression in other pain-associated regions remains elusive. The present study carried out strand-specific next-generation RNA sequencing with a higher sequencing depth and observed the changes in whole transcriptomes in the spinal cord (SC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and amygdala (AMY) following unilateral fourth lumbar spinal nerve ligation (SNL). In addition to providing novel transcriptome profiles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and mRNAs, we identified pain- and emotion-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and revealed that numbers of these DEGs displayed a high correlation to neuroinflammation and apoptosis. Consistently, functional analyses showed that the most significant enriched biological processes of the upregulated mRNAs were involved in the immune system process, apoptotic process, defense response, inflammation response, and sensory perception of pain across three regions. Moreover, the comparisons of pain-, anxiety-, and depression-related DEGs among three regions present a particular molecular map among the spinal cord and supraspinal structures and indicate the region-dependent and region-independent alterations of gene expression after nerve injury. Our study provides a resource for gene transcript expression patterns in three distinct pain-related regions after peripheral nerve injury. Our findings suggest that neuroinflammation and apoptosis are important pathogenic mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain and that some DEGs might be promising therapeutic targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Songxue Su
- Department of Anatomy, College of Basic Medicine, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.,Neuroscience Research Institute, Zhengzhou University Academy of Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Mengqi Li
- Neuroscience Research Institute, Zhengzhou University Academy of Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou, China.,Department of Anesthesiology, Pain and Perioperative Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Di Wu
- Department of Bioinformatics, College of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Jing Cao
- Department of Anatomy, College of Basic Medicine, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.,Neuroscience Research Institute, Zhengzhou University Academy of Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Xiuhua Ren
- Department of Anatomy, College of Basic Medicine, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.,Neuroscience Research Institute, Zhengzhou University Academy of Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Yuan-Xiang Tao
- Department of Anesthesiology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, United States
| | - Weidong Zang
- Department of Anatomy, College of Basic Medicine, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.,Neuroscience Research Institute, Zhengzhou University Academy of Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou, China
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