Depression and anxiety disorders pose a significant risk to human health inducing a deterioration of relation and occupational capabilities, affecting the quality of life of hundreds’ millions of people world wide. Depression is one of the most prevalent stress-related diseases and the gender is among the strongest risk factors for depression: women, more prone to develop stress-related disorders, show a higher risk to develop the disease compared to men revealing a sexual divergence in the susceptibility to adverse life event. The unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) protocol is a valid and sensitive model for the study of depressive disorders in rodents. In this study, we investigated the putative sexually dimorphic effects of a UCMS paradigm on the development of a depressive and anxious phenotype in CD1 mice of both sexes, as well as changes in the hormonal levels and brain morphology. To assess the anxiety-like behavior, we used the Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) and the Open Field (OF) tests, while for the depressive profile we evaluated the time spent in immobile posture during Forced Swimming Test. For the hedonic behavior, we performed the Sucrose Preference Test calculating the consumption of 2% sucrose solution and water. We investigated the vasopressin system analyzing the sexually dimorphic circuits and, in the future, other circuits involved on the control of anxiety behavior (i.e. nNOS system) and on regulation of stress response (i.e serotonin system). Present data indicate that UCMS treatment is a good model to test the sexually dimorphic onset of affective disorders.
Sexually dimorphic effects of unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) in a murine model of depression and anxiety
FOGLIO, BENEDETTA;PANZICA, Giancarlo
2013-01-01
Abstract
Depression and anxiety disorders pose a significant risk to human health inducing a deterioration of relation and occupational capabilities, affecting the quality of life of hundreds’ millions of people world wide. Depression is one of the most prevalent stress-related diseases and the gender is among the strongest risk factors for depression: women, more prone to develop stress-related disorders, show a higher risk to develop the disease compared to men revealing a sexual divergence in the susceptibility to adverse life event. The unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) protocol is a valid and sensitive model for the study of depressive disorders in rodents. In this study, we investigated the putative sexually dimorphic effects of a UCMS paradigm on the development of a depressive and anxious phenotype in CD1 mice of both sexes, as well as changes in the hormonal levels and brain morphology. To assess the anxiety-like behavior, we used the Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) and the Open Field (OF) tests, while for the depressive profile we evaluated the time spent in immobile posture during Forced Swimming Test. For the hedonic behavior, we performed the Sucrose Preference Test calculating the consumption of 2% sucrose solution and water. We investigated the vasopressin system analyzing the sexually dimorphic circuits and, in the future, other circuits involved on the control of anxiety behavior (i.e. nNOS system) and on regulation of stress response (i.e serotonin system). Present data indicate that UCMS treatment is a good model to test the sexually dimorphic onset of affective disorders.
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