Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, Università Degli Studi di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy.
Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behavior, Radboud University Medical Center, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Genes (Basel). 2020 Oct 23;11(11):1248. doi: 10.3390/genes11111248.
The serotonin transporter (5-HTT in humans, SERT in rodents) is the main regulator of serotonergic transmission in the brain. The short allelic variant of the 5-HTT gene is in humans associated with psychopathologies and may enhance the vulnerability to develop depression after exposure to stressful events. Interestingly, the short allele also increases the sensitivity to a positive environment, which may buffer the vulnerability to depression. Since this polymorphism does not exist in rodents, male SERT knockout (SERT) rats were tested to explore the molecular mechanisms based on this increased predisposition. This article investigates the influences of a positive manipulation, namely, enriched environment (EE), on the depressive-like behavior observed in SERT rats. We found that one month of EE exposure normalized the anhedonic and anxious-like phenotype characteristics of this animal model. Moreover, we observed that EE exposure also restored the molecular alterations in the prefrontal cortex by positively modulating the expression of the neurotrophin Bdnf, and of spines and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic markers. Overall, our data confirm the depression-like phenotype of SERT rats and highlight the ability of EE to restore behavioral and molecular alterations, thus promoting the opportunity to use EE as a supporting non-pharmacological approach to treat mood disorders.
5-羟色胺转运体(人类中的 5-HTT,啮齿动物中的 SERT)是大脑中 5-羟色胺能传递的主要调节者。人类 5-羟色胺转运体基因的短等位基因变体与精神病理学有关,并且可能在暴露于应激事件后增强易患抑郁症的风险。有趣的是,短等位基因也增加了对积极环境的敏感性,这可能缓冲了对抑郁症的易感性。由于这种多态性在啮齿动物中不存在,因此测试了雄性 SERT 敲除(SERT)大鼠,以探索基于这种增加倾向的分子机制。本文研究了积极干预,即丰富环境(EE)对 SERT 大鼠观察到的抑郁样行为的影响。我们发现,一个月的 EE 暴露使这种动物模型的快感缺失和焦虑样表型特征正常化。此外,我们还观察到 EE 暴露通过积极调节神经营养因子 Bdnf 的表达以及棘突和γ-氨基丁酸(GABA)能标志物,也恢复了前额叶皮层的分子改变。总的来说,我们的数据证实了 SERT 大鼠的抑郁样表型,并强调了 EE 恢复行为和分子改变的能力,从而为使用 EE 作为治疗情绪障碍的非药物支持方法提供了机会。
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