Paré W P, Blair G R, Kluczynski J, Tejani-Butt S
VA Medical Center, Perry Point, MD 21902, USA.
Integr Physiol Behav Sci. 1999 Oct-Dec;34(4):227-41. doi: 10.1007/BF02688691.
While females are considered more susceptible to depressive behavior, this assertion is not strongly supported by the experimental literature. Since stress contributes to depressive behavior, male and female Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats were exposed to either one session (acute stress) or 5 sessions (chronic stress) of restraint plus cold in order to study depressive behavior in male and female rats. After their respective treatment exposure, rats were tested in the open field test (OFT) and for retention of a passive-avoidance (P-A) task. One stress session resulted in significant immobility in the OFT for males, whereas 5 sessions were required to produce similar immobility in female rats. Acute stress interfered with the retention of the P-A response for males, while both acute and chronic stress produced poor P-A responses in female rats. Food consumption decreased progressively, as a function of stress sessions, in female rats, whereas feeding in males returned to control levels after five stress days. Both acute and chronic stress exacerbated the stress ulcer response in male rats, but not in female rats. Chronic, but not acute, stress resulted in an increase in serotonin transporter mRNA levels in the dorsal raphe nucleus of both male and female rats. The general consensus from these data suggested that female rats were more vulnerable to chronic stress and consequently supported the notion that females may be more susceptible to stress-induced behavioral depression. Key Words: WKY rats, acute and chronic stress, gender, passive avoidance, open field behavior, stress-ulcer, adrenal weight, serotonin, dorsal raphe nucleus
虽然女性被认为更容易出现抑郁行为，但这一观点并未得到实验文献的有力支持。由于应激会导致抑郁行为，为了研究雄性和雌性大鼠的抑郁行为，将雄性和雌性Wistar京都（WKY）大鼠暴露于单次（急性应激）或5次（慢性应激）的束缚加寒冷环境中。在接受各自的处理后，对大鼠进行旷场试验（OFT）和被动回避（P-A）任务的记忆测试。单次应激导致雄性大鼠在旷场试验中显著不动，而雌性大鼠则需要5次应激才能产生类似的不动。急性应激干扰了雄性大鼠对P-A反应的记忆，而急性和慢性应激均导致雌性大鼠的P-A反应较差。雌性大鼠的食物摄入量随着应激次数的增加而逐渐减少，而雄性大鼠在经历五天应激后，进食量恢复到对照水平。急性和慢性应激均加剧了雄性大鼠的应激性溃疡反应，但对雌性大鼠没有影响。慢性应激（而非急性应激）导致雄性和雌性大鼠中缝背核中血清素转运体mRNA水平升高。这些数据的总体共识表明，雌性大鼠更容易受到慢性应激的影响，因此支持了女性可能更容易受到应激诱导的行为抑郁影响的观点。关键词：WKY大鼠、急性和慢性应激、性别、被动回避、旷场行为、应激性溃疡、肾上腺重量、血清素、中缝背核
