Division of Forensic Pathology and Science, Department of Medical and Dental Sciences, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4, Sakamoto, Nagasaki, 852-8523, Japan.
Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, 1750-1, Miki, Kita, Kagawa, 761-0793, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2024 May 2;14(1):10045. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-58621-7.
Chronic stress has been implicated in mental illnesses and depressive behaviors. Somatostatin 4 receptor (SSTR4) has been shown to mediate anxiolytic and depression-like effects. Here, we aimed to explore the potential of SSTR4 as a diagnostic marker for chronic stress in mice. The mice were divided into single stress, chronic restraint stress, and control groups, and Sstr4 mRNA expression in the pituitary, lungs, and thymus, its protein expression in the thymus, were analyzed. Compared to controls, Sstr4 mRNA expression decreased significantly in the pituitary gland of the chronic and single-stress groups (P = 0.0181 and 0.0022, respectively) and lungs of the single-stress group (P = 0.0124), whereas it significantly increased in the thymus of the chronic-stress group (P = 0.0313). Thymic SSTR4 expression did not decrease significantly in stress groups compared to that in the control group (P = 0.0963). These results suggest that SSTR4 expression fluctuates in response to stress. Furthermore, Sstr4 mRNA expression dynamics in each organ differed based on single or chronic restraint stress-loading periods. In conclusion, this study suggests that investigating SSTR4 expression in each organ could allow for its use as a stress marker to estimate the stress-loading period and aid in diagnosing chronic stress.
慢性应激与精神疾病和抑郁行为有关。生长抑素 4 受体（SSTR4）已被证明具有抗焦虑和类似抑郁的作用。在这里，我们旨在探索 SSTR4 作为小鼠慢性应激诊断标志物的潜力。将小鼠分为单次应激、慢性束缚应激和对照组，并分析垂体、肺和胸腺中 Sstr4 mRNA 的表达及其在胸腺中的蛋白表达。与对照组相比，慢性和单次应激组的垂体 Sstr4 mRNA 表达显著降低（P = 0.0181 和 0.0022），单次应激组的肺 Sstr4 mRNA 表达也显著降低（P = 0.0124），而慢性应激组的胸腺 Sstr4 mRNA 表达显著升高（P = 0.0313）。与对照组相比，胸腺 SSTR4 表达在应激组中没有显著降低（P = 0.0963）。这些结果表明 SSTR4 表达随应激而波动。此外，每个器官中 Sstr4 mRNA 表达的动态变化因单次或慢性束缚应激加载期而异。总之，本研究表明，研究每个器官中的 SSTR4 表达可以将其用作应激标志物，以估计应激加载期并有助于诊断慢性应激。
