Upregulation of hippocampal extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-2 induces antidepressant-like behavior in the rat forced swim test.
Sergio D IñiguezLyonna F PariseMary Kay LoboFrancisco J Flores-RamirezIsrael Garcia-CarachureBrandon L WarrenAlfred Jay RobisonPublished in: Behavioral neuroscience (2019)
The hippocampus mediates responses to affect-related behavior in preclinical models of pharmacological antidepressant efficacy, such as the forced swim test. However, the molecular mechanisms that regulate escape-directed behavior in this preclinical model of despair are not well understood. Here, using viral-mediated gene transfer, we assessed how overexpression of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK)-2 within the dorsal hippocampus influenced behavioral reactivity to inescapable swimming stress in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. When compared to controls, rats overexpressing hippocampal ERK-2 displayed increases in the time to initially adopt a posture of immobility, along with decreases in total time spent immobile, without influencing general locomotor activity. Collectively, the results indicate that hippocampal upregulation of ERK-2 increases escape-directed behavior in the rat forced swim test, thus providing insight into the neurobiological mechanisms that mediate antidepressant efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Keyphrases
- signaling pathway
- cell proliferation
- pi k akt
- cerebral ischemia
- major depressive disorder
- protein kinase
- transcription factor
- spinal cord
- poor prognosis
- oxidative stress
- spinal cord injury
- sars cov
- cell therapy
- brain injury
- subarachnoid hemorrhage
- blood brain barrier
- gene expression
- genome wide
- cognitive impairment
- emergency department
- dna methylation
- stress induced
- bone marrow