Kamaei Amir-Kamyar, Hosseini Seyedeh-Fatemeh, Teimourparsaei Parisa, Payamani Masoumeh, Vaseghi Salar
Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Medicinal Plants Research Center, Institute of Medicinal Plants, ACECR, P.O. Box: 1419815477, Karaj, Iran.
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol. 2024 Jun;397(6):3929-3944. doi: 10.1007/s00210-023-02843-5. Epub 2023 Nov 21.
Social isolation is a reliable method used for the induction of depression and psychiatric disorders in rodents. It has been suggested that social isolation can lead to hyperlocomotion, as a schizophrenic-like symptom in rodents. On the other hand, crocin (the major constituent of Crocus sativus) induces a wide-range of neuroprotective and mood enhancer effects. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of acute crocin on social isolation-induced behavioral changes and BDNF expression in the hippocampus. Novelty-suppressed feeding test, open field test, marble burying test, hot plate, forced swim test, and the shuttle box were used to assess anxiety-like behavior, locomotor activity, obsessive-compulsive-like (OCD-like) behavior, pain threshold, depressive-like behavior, and passive avoidance memory, respectively. Real-time PCR was used to assess BDNF hippocampal expression level. The results showed that social isolation decreased anxiety- and depressive-like behavior, pain threshold, and BDNF expression, and induced OCD-like behavior and hyperlocomotion. Crocin dose-dependently restored the effect of social isolation on pain threshold, locomotor activity, depressive-like behavior, OCD-like behavior, and BDNF expression. Passive avoidance memory performance was also unaffected. In conclusion, we showed a hyperlocomotion profile and OCD-like behaviors, and a robust decrease in pain threshold in socially isolated rats. It can be suggested that social isolation from adolescence induces a "hyperlocomotion state" that affects all the behavioral functions of rats. Also, the function of BDNF can be related to a hyperlocomotion state and OCD-like symptom. It seems that BDNF expression level can be related to the therapeutic effect of crocin.
社会隔离是一种用于诱导啮齿动物出现抑郁和精神疾病的可靠方法。有人提出，社会隔离可导致活动过度，这是啮齿动物的一种精神分裂症样症状。另一方面，藏红花素（藏红花的主要成分）具有广泛的神经保护和情绪增强作用。在本研究中，我们旨在探讨急性给予藏红花素对社会隔离诱导的行为变化及海马中脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）表达的影响。采用新奇抑制摄食试验、旷场试验、大理石埋藏试验、热板试验、强迫游泳试验和穿梭箱试验分别评估焦虑样行为、运动活动、强迫样（OCD样）行为、痛阈、抑郁样行为和被动回避记忆。采用实时定量PCR评估海马中BDNF的表达水平。结果表明，社会隔离降低了焦虑样和抑郁样行为、痛阈及BDNF表达，并诱导了OCD样行为和活动过度。藏红花素剂量依赖性地恢复了社会隔离对痛阈、运动活动、抑郁样行为、OCD样行为和BDNF表达的影响。被动回避记忆表现也未受影响。总之，我们发现社会隔离的大鼠存在活动过度和OCD样行为，且痛阈显著降低。可以推测，青春期开始的社会隔离会诱发一种“活动过度状态”，影响大鼠的所有行为功能。此外，BDNF的功能可能与活动过度状态和OCD样症状有关。似乎BDNF表达水平可能与藏红花素的治疗效果有关。
