Hosseini Roya, Emadian Sara, Dogani Manijeh, Ghazanfari Touba, Askari Nayere
Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Immunoregulation Research Center, Shahed University, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Brain Behav Immun Health. 2024 Oct 28;42:100895. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2024.100895. eCollection 2024 Dec.
The activity of different neurotransmitter pathways in the hypothalamus controls the stress response. Meanwhile, leptin is known as an effective mediator in the stress response, and its serum and brain levels change when exposed to stressful factors. In this study, the effect of chronic social instability stress (INS) and chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) on anxiety-like behavioral responses and the level of expression of leptin and its receptor in the brain of male Wistar rats that were under maternal stress (MS) were investigated. Grouping: control (n = 7), MS (n = 7), INS (n = 7), CUS (n = 7), MS + INS (n = 7), MS + CUS (n = 7). Forced swimming, elevated plus-maze, and open field tests were used to check anxiety-like behaviors. Next, the mRNA expression of leptin and its receptor in the hypothalamus was measured by Real-Time PCR. According to the results, adult rats with maternal stress showed an increase in their anxiety-like behaviors faced with the stress of chronic social instability and chronic unpredictable stress (compared to the groups that only received adult stresses). Also, the hypothalamic expression of leptin decreased, but we saw an increase in the expression of hypothalamic leptin receptors in INS, CUS, and MS groups and a decrease in MS + INS and MS + CUS groups. Results of this research suggest that leptin plays a role as an effective mediator in the occurrence of central and behavioral changes caused by maternal stress. In other words, it can be effective in changing resilience in the face of adult stress.
下丘脑不同神经递质通路的活动控制着应激反应。同时，瘦素被认为是应激反应中的一种有效介质，当暴露于应激因素时，其血清和脑内水平会发生变化。在本研究中，研究了慢性社会不稳定应激（INS）和慢性不可预测应激（CUS）对处于母源性应激（MS）下的雄性Wistar大鼠大脑中焦虑样行为反应以及瘦素及其受体表达水平的影响。分组：对照组（n = 7）、MS组（n = 7）、INS组（n = 7）、CUS组（n = 7）、MS + INS组（n = 7）、MS + CUS组（n = 7）。采用强迫游泳、高架十字迷宫和旷场试验来检测焦虑样行为。接下来，通过实时荧光定量PCR检测下丘脑瘦素及其受体的mRNA表达。根据结果，有母源性应激的成年大鼠在面对慢性社会不稳定应激和慢性不可预测应激时，其焦虑样行为增加（与仅接受成年应激的组相比）。此外，下丘脑瘦素表达降低，但我们发现INS组、CUS组和MS组下丘脑瘦素受体表达增加，而MS + INS组和MS + CUS组表达降低。本研究结果表明，瘦素在母源性应激引起的中枢和行为变化的发生中起有效介质的作用。换句话说，它在改变面对成年应激时的恢复力方面可能是有效的。
