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Tzeng NS, Chung JY, Lin CC, Cheng PY, Liu YP. Effects of Subchronic Buspirone Treatment on Depressive Profile in Socially Isolated Rats: Implication of Early Life Experience on 5-HT1A Receptor-Related Depression. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2024; 17:717. [PMID: 38931384 PMCID: PMC11206366 DOI: 10.3390/ph17060717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2024] [Revised: 05/15/2024] [Accepted: 05/18/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The heterogeneity of etiology may serve as a crucial factor in the challenges of treatment, including the low response rate and the delay in establishing therapeutic effect. In the present study, we examined whether social experience since early life is one of the etiologies, with the involvement of the 5-HT1A receptors, and explored the potentially therapeutic action of the subchronic administration of buspirone, a partial 5-HT1A agonist. Rats were isolation reared (IR) since their weaning, and the depressive profile indexed by the forced-swim test (FST) was examined in adulthood. Nonspecific locomotor activity was used for the IR validation. Buspirone administration (1 mg/kg/day) was introduced for 14 days (week 9-11). The immobility score of the FST was examined before and after the buspirone administration. Tissue levels of serotonin (5-HT) and its metabolite 5-HIAA were measured in the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex. Efflux levels of 5-HT, dopamine (DA), and norepinephrine (NE) were detected in the hippocampus by brain dialysis. Finally, the full 5-HT1A agonist 8-OH-DPAT (0.5 mg/kg) was acutely administered in both behavioral testing and the dialysis experiment. Our results showed (i) increased immobility time in the FST for the IR rats as compared to the social controls, which could not be reversed by the buspirone administration; (ii) IR-induced FST immobility in rats receiving buspirone was corrected by the 8-OH-DPAT; and (iii) IR-induced reduction in hippocampal 5-HT levels can be reversed by the buspirone administration. Our data indicated the 5-HT1A receptor-linked early life social experience as one of the mechanisms of later life depressive mood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nian-Sheng Tzeng
- Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei 114, Taiwan;
- Student Counseling Center, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan
| | - Jing-Yi Chung
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan; (J.-Y.C.); (C.-C.L.); (P.-Y.C.)
| | - Chen-Cheng Lin
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan; (J.-Y.C.); (C.-C.L.); (P.-Y.C.)
| | - Pao-Yun Cheng
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan; (J.-Y.C.); (C.-C.L.); (P.-Y.C.)
| | - Yia-Ping Liu
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan; (J.-Y.C.); (C.-C.L.); (P.-Y.C.)
- Department of Psychiatry, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan
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Lin CC, Yang CP, Cheng PY, Hsiao M, Liu YP. Escitalopram reversibility of the impacts following chronic stress on central 5-HT profiles - Implications to depression and anxiety. Behav Brain Res 2023; 453:114613. [PMID: 37544369 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2023] [Revised: 07/31/2023] [Accepted: 08/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Stress is considered a crucial determinant influencing health capacity in modern society. Long-term stress makes individuals more susceptible to mental dysfunctions, among which depression and anxiety are two major mental disorders. The success of using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to treat these two disorders highlights the involvement of the central serotonergic (5-HT) system. Later studies suggest both presynaptic and postsynaptic 5-HT profiles should be considered for the effects of SSRIs, making it difficult to interpret the etiological and therapeutic mechanisms underlying depression and anxiety. The present study aims to examine whether the intervention of escitalopram (Es, 5 mg/kg daily for 14 days) can reverse the behavioral phenotypes of both depression-like [by sucrose preference test (SPT) and forced swim test (FST)] and anxiety-like [by avoidance latency and escape latency in elevated-T maze (ETM)] behaviors, and the brain area-dependent neurochemical changes of 5-HT profiles of the terminal regions regarding both synaptic efflux and tissue levels in rats of chronic mild stress (CMS). Our results showed that: (i) Even mild stresses when presented in an unpredictable and long-term manner, can induce both depression-like and anxiety-like behaviors. (ii) Depressive profile indexed by SPT was more sensitive to reflect the Es effect than that of FST. (iii) Es did not significantly affect the CMS-induced anxiety-like symptoms indexed by ETM. (iv) Changes in the protein expression of 5-HT1A receptors in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus were compatible with the treatment outcome. Our results contributed to the understanding of stress-induced mood dysfunction and the involvement of central 5-HT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen-Cheng Lin
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Chiu-Ping Yang
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Pao-Yun Cheng
- Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Michael Hsiao
- Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yia-Ping Liu
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
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Chen YJ, Liu YP. Early life social experience and adulthood impulsivity – Implications of central serotonergic system during development. Med Hypotheses 2020; 143:110032. [DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2020.110032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2020] [Revised: 06/06/2020] [Accepted: 06/20/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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Lin CC, Cheng PY, Liu YP. Effects of early life social experience on fear extinction and related glucocorticoid profiles - behavioral and neurochemical approaches in a rat model of PTSD. Behav Brain Res 2020; 391:112686. [PMID: 32428628 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2020] [Revised: 04/30/2020] [Accepted: 04/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
People may agonize over an intrusive fear-inducing memory even when the traumatic event has passed, which is the principle manifestation of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, many traumatized people do not present symptoms of PTSD, implying that certain hidden factors help those individuals to cope with the traumatic stress. Increasing evidence suggests that early life experience may serve as a predisposing factor in the development of PTSD. For example, early life social deprivation disrupts the glucocorticoid system, one of the biological abnormalities of PTSD. By employing isolation rearing (IR) with a subsequent single prolonged stress (SPS) paradigm, we examined the hypothesis that early-life social experience may change the outcome of traumatic stress in both behavioral and neurochemical profiles. Behaviorally, the performance of rats on a Pavlovian fear conditioning test was measured to evaluate their retrieval ability of fear memory extinction. Neurochemically, plasma corticosterone levels and glucocorticoid receptor (GR), FK506-binding proteins 4 and 5 (FKBP4 and FKBP5) and early growth response-1 (Egr-1) expression were measured in GR-abundant brain areas, including the hypothalamus, medial prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus. Our results demonstrated an area-dependent IR effect on the SPS outcomes. IR prevented the SPS-impaired fear extinction retrieval ability and averted the SPS-elevated expression of GR, FKBP4, and Egr-1 in the hippocampus, whereas it did not change the SPS-reduced plasma corticosterone levels and SPS-enhanced GR activity in the mPFC and hypothalamus. The present study provides some new insights to support the hypothesis that early-life experience may play a role in the occurrence of PTSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen-Cheng Lin
- Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, Taipei 11220, Taiwan; Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
| | - Pao-Yun Cheng
- Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
| | - Yia-Ping Liu
- Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, Taipei 11220, Taiwan; Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan.
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Lin CC, Chen TY, Cheng PY, Liu YP. Early life social experience affects adulthood fear extinction deficit and associated dopamine profile abnormalities in a rat model of PTSD. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2020; 101:109914. [PMID: 32165120 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2020.109914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2019] [Revised: 02/13/2020] [Accepted: 03/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Individuals may develop fear extinction deficits after life-threatening traumatic events; such deficits indicate posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Because the occurrence of this disorder differs among people who have experienced trauma, hidden underlying factors should be determined. Increasing evidence suggests the involvement of neuronal dysregulation of information processes or cognitive function during development. This neuronal dysregulation is caused by disturbances in dopamine (DA) transmission within the fear circuit, which comprises the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), amygdala, and hippocampus. Single prolonged stress (SPS) combined with an isolation rearing (IR) paradigm was used to randomly assign rats to four groups [social rearing-no SPS (SR-NS), SR-SPS, IR-NS, and IR-SPS], and their performance in prepulse inhibition (PPI) and on Pavlovian fear conditioning tests was assessed. Tissue DA levels and the expression of DA receptors (D1R and D2R) in the fear circuit were measured at the end of the experiment. Our results indicated that PPI deficits and fear extinction problems were specific to rats subjected to IR and SPS, respectively. Furthermore, IR-induced PPI deficits were not influenced by SPS, but SPS-induced fear extinction retrieval impairment could be adjusted according to previous IR experiences. Neurochemically, tissue DA levels and D1R expression in the mPFC and amygdala were nonspecifically reduced by IR and SPS, whereas D2R expression in the mPFC and amygdala was higher in IR-SPS than in SR-SPS rats. These findings suggest that early life experiences may influence fear responses in adulthood through a change in DA profiles within the fear circuit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen-Cheng Lin
- Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, Taipei 11220, Taiwan; Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
| | - Tzung-Yan Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, Taipei 11220, Taiwan; Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
| | - Pao-Yun Cheng
- Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan.
| | - Yia-Ping Liu
- Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, Cheng Hsin General Hospital, Taipei 11220, Taiwan; Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Physiology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan.
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