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Sadighi M, Mai L, Xu Y, Boillot M, Targa G, Mottarlini F, Brambilla P, Gass P, Caffino L, Fumagalli F, Homberg JR. Chronic exposure to imipramine induces a switch from depression-like to mania-like behavior in female serotonin transporter knockout rats: Role of BDNF signaling in the infralimbic cortex. J Affect Disord 2024; 351:128-142. [PMID: 38280571 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 01/29/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Bipolar disorder (BD) is a highly burdensome psychiatric disorder characterized by alternating states of mania and depression. A major challenge in the clinic is the switch from depression to mania, which is often observed in female BD patients during antidepressant treatment such as imipramine. However, the underlying neural basis is unclear. METHODS To investigate the potential neuronal pathways, serotonin transporter knockout (SERT KO) rats, an experimental model of female BD patients, were subjected to a battery of behavioral tests under chronic treatment of the antidepressant imipramine. In addition, the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its downstream signaling was examined in the prefrontal cortex. RESULTS Chronic exposure to imipramine reduced anxiety and sociability and problem-solving capacity, and increased thigmotaxis and day/night activity in all animals, but specifically in female SERT KO rats, compared to female wild-type (WT) rats. Further, we found an activation of BDNF-TrkB-Akt pathway signaling in the infralimbic, but not prelimbic, cortex after chronic imipramine treatment in SERT KO, but not WT, rats. LIMITATIONS Repeated testing behaviors could potentially affect the results. Additionally, the imipramine induced changes in behavior and in the BDNF system were measured in separate animals. CONCLUSIONS Our study indicates that female SERT KO rats, which mirror the female BD patients with the 5-HTTLPR s-allele, are at higher risk of a switch to mania-like behaviors under imipramine treatment. Activation of the BDNF-TrkB-Akt pathway in the infralimbic cortex might contribute to this phenotype, but causal evidence remains to be provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mina Sadighi
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Lingling Mai
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Yifan Xu
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Morgane Boillot
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Giorgia Targa
- Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences 'Rodolfo Paoletti', Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Francesca Mottarlini
- Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences 'Rodolfo Paoletti', Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Paolo Brambilla
- Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy; Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Peter Gass
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RG Animal Models in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Lucia Caffino
- Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences 'Rodolfo Paoletti', Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Fabio Fumagalli
- Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences 'Rodolfo Paoletti', Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Judith R Homberg
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
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Grieco F, Bernstein BJ, Biemans B, Bikovski L, Burnett CJ, Cushman JD, van Dam EA, Fry SA, Richmond-Hacham B, Homberg JR, Kas MJH, Kessels HW, Koopmans B, Krashes MJ, Krishnan V, Logan S, Loos M, McCann KE, Parduzi Q, Pick CG, Prevot TD, Riedel G, Robinson L, Sadighi M, Smit AB, Sonntag W, Roelofs RF, Tegelenbosch RAJ, Noldus LPJJ. Measuring Behavior in the Home Cage: Study Design, Applications, Challenges, and Perspectives. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:735387. [PMID: 34630052 PMCID: PMC8498589 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.735387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2021] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The reproducibility crisis (or replication crisis) in biomedical research is a particularly existential and under-addressed issue in the field of behavioral neuroscience, where, in spite of efforts to standardize testing and assay protocols, several known and unknown sources of confounding environmental factors add to variance. Human interference is a major contributor to variability both within and across laboratories, as well as novelty-induced anxiety. Attempts to reduce human interference and to measure more "natural" behaviors in subjects has led to the development of automated home-cage monitoring systems. These systems enable prolonged and longitudinal recordings, and provide large continuous measures of spontaneous behavior that can be analyzed across multiple time scales. In this review, a diverse team of neuroscientists and product developers share their experiences using such an automated monitoring system that combines Noldus PhenoTyper® home-cages and the video-based tracking software, EthoVision® XT, to extract digital biomarkers of motor, emotional, social and cognitive behavior. After presenting our working definition of a "home-cage", we compare home-cage testing with more conventional out-of-cage tests (e.g., the open field) and outline the various advantages of the former, including opportunities for within-subject analyses and assessments of circadian and ultradian activity. Next, we address technical issues pertaining to the acquisition of behavioral data, such as the fine-tuning of the tracking software and the potential for integration with biotelemetry and optogenetics. Finally, we provide guidance on which behavioral measures to emphasize, how to filter, segment, and analyze behavior, and how to use analysis scripts. We summarize how the PhenoTyper has applications to study neuropharmacology as well as animal models of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric illness. Looking forward, we examine current challenges and the impact of new developments. Examples include the automated recognition of specific behaviors, unambiguous tracking of individuals in a social context, the development of more animal-centered measures of behavior and ways of dealing with large datasets. Together, we advocate that by embracing standardized home-cage monitoring platforms like the PhenoTyper, we are poised to directly assess issues pertaining to reproducibility, and more importantly, measure features of rodent behavior under more ethologically relevant scenarios.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Briana J Bernstein
- Neurobiology Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, NC, United States
| | | | - Lior Bikovski
- Myers Neuro-Behavioral Core Facility, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- School of Behavioral Sciences, Netanya Academic College, Netanya, Israel
| | - C Joseph Burnett
- Nash Family Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States
| | - Jesse D Cushman
- Neurobiology Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, NC, United States
| | | | - Sydney A Fry
- Neurobiology Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, NC, United States
| | - Bar Richmond-Hacham
- Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Judith R Homberg
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Martien J H Kas
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Helmut W Kessels
- Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | | | - Michael J Krashes
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Vaishnav Krishnan
- Laboratory of Epilepsy and Emotional Behavior, Baylor Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Departments of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Sreemathi Logan
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Allied Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, United States
| | - Maarten Loos
- Sylics (Synaptologics BV), Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Katharine E McCann
- Neurobiology Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, NC, United States
| | | | - Chaim G Pick
- Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Chair and Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Thomas D Prevot
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Gernot Riedel
- Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
| | - Lianne Robinson
- Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
| | - Mina Sadighi
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - August B Smit
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - William Sonntag
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Center for Geroscience, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, United States
| | | | | | - Lucas P J J Noldus
- Noldus Information Technology BV, Wageningen, Netherlands
- Department of Biophysics, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
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Schipper P, Henckens MJAG, Borghans B, Hiemstra M, Kozicz T, Homberg JR. Prior fear conditioning does not impede enhanced active avoidance in serotonin transporter knockout rats. Behav Brain Res 2017; 326:77-86. [PMID: 28286283 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2017.02.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2017] [Revised: 02/21/2017] [Accepted: 02/24/2017] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Stressors can be actively or passively coped with, and adequate adaption of the coping response to environmental conditions can reduce their potential deleterious effects. One major factor influencing stress coping behaviour is serotonin transporter (5-HTT) availability. Abolishment of 5-HTT is known to impair fear extinction but facilitates acquisition of signalled active avoidance (AA), a behavioural task in which an animal learns to avoid an aversive stimulus that is predicted by a cue. Flexibility in adapting coping behaviour to the nature of the stressor shapes resilience to stress-related disorders. Therefore, we investigated the relation between 5-HTT expression and ability to adapt a learned coping response to changing environmental conditions. To this end, we first established and consolidated a cue-conditioned passive fear response in 5-HTT-/- and wildtype rats. Next, we used the conditioned stimulus (CS) to signal oncoming shocks during signalled AA training in 5-HTT-/- and wildtype rats to study their capability to acquire an active coping response to the CS following fear conditioning. Finally, we investigated the behavioural response to the CS in a novel environment and measured freezing, exploration and self-grooming, behaviours reflective of stress coping strategy. We found that fear conditioned and sham conditioned 5-HTT-/- animals acquired the signalled AA response faster than wildtypes, while prior conditioning briefly delayed AA learning similarly in both genotypes. Subsequent exposure to the CS in the novel context reduced freezing and increased locomotion in 5-HTT-/- compared to wildtype rats. This indicates that improved AA performance in 5-HTT-/- rats resulted in a weaker residual passive fear response to the CS in a novel context. Fear conditioning prior to AA training did not affect freezing upon re-encountering the CS, although it did reduce locomotion in 5-HTT-/- rats. We conclude that independent of 5-HTT signalling, prior fear conditioning does not greatly impair the acquisition of subsequent active coping behaviour when the situation allows for it. Abolishment of 5-HTT results in a more active coping style in case of novelty-induced fear and upon CS encounter in a novel context after AA learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pieter Schipper
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre for Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboudumc, Geert Grooteplein 21 (route 126), 6525 EZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Marloes J A G Henckens
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre for Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboudumc, Geert Grooteplein 21 (route 126), 6525 EZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Anatomy Department, Centre for Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboudumc, Geert Grooteplein 21 (route 109), 6525 EZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Bart Borghans
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre for Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboudumc, Geert Grooteplein 21 (route 126), 6525 EZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Marlies Hiemstra
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre for Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboudumc, Geert Grooteplein 21 (route 126), 6525 EZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Tamas Kozicz
- Anatomy Department, Centre for Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboudumc, Geert Grooteplein 21 (route 109), 6525 EZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Judith R Homberg
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Centre for Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboudumc, Geert Grooteplein 21 (route 126), 6525 EZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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Abstract
Altered oligodendrocyte structure and function is implicated in major psychiatric illnesses, including low cell number and reduced oligodendrocyte-specific gene expression in major depressive disorder (MDD). These features are also observed in the unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) rodent model of the illness, suggesting that they are consequential to environmental precipitants; however, whether oligodendrocyte changes contribute causally to low emotionality is unknown. Focusing on 2'-3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase (Cnp1), a crucial component of axoglial communication dysregulated in the amygdala of MDD subjects and UCMS-exposed mice, we show that altered oligodendrocyte integrity can have an unexpected functional role in affect regulation. Mice lacking Cnp1 (knockout, KO) displayed decreased anxiety- and depressive-like symptoms (i.e., low emotionality) compared with wild-type animals, a phenotypic difference that increased with age (3-9 months). This phenotype was accompanied by increased motor activity, but was evident before neurodegenerative-associated motor coordination deficits (≤ 9-12 months). Notably, Cnp1(KO) mice were less vulnerable to developing a depressive-like syndrome after either UCMS or chronic corticosterone exposure. Cnp1(KO) mice also displayed reduced fear expression during extinction, despite normal amygdala c-Fos induction after acute stress, together implicating dysfunction of an amygdala-related neural network, and consistent with proposed mechanisms for stress resiliency. However, the Cnp1(KO) behavioral phenotype was also accompanied by massive upregulation of oligodendrocyte- and immune-related genes in the basolateral amygdala, suggesting an attempt at functional compensation. Together, we demonstrate that the lack of oligodendrocyte-specific Cnp1 leads to resilient emotionality. However, combined with substantial molecular changes and late-onset neurodegeneration, these results suggest the low Cnp1 seen in MDD may cause unsustainable and maladaptive molecular compensations contributing to the disease pathophysiology.
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