The BDNF-FoxO1 Axis in the medial prefrontal cortex modulates depressive-like behaviors induced by chronic unpredictable stress in postpartum female mice.
Jing LiuFantao MengJuanjuan DaiMin WuWentao WangCuilan LiuDi ZhaoHongcai WangJingyan ZhangChen LiPublished in: Molecular brain (2020)
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a serious psychiatric disorder, affecting not only the childbearing women but also the health of their offsprings. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) gene is an important target gene for the study of depression and antidepressant therapy. FoxO1, belonging to the FoxO subfamily is involved in the development of major depressive disorders. However, the role of BDNF and its functional brain regions involved in PPD remains unknown. Here, we report that chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) can produce depression-associated behaviors in postpartum female mice. CUS can decrease total Bdnf mRNA and exon specific mRNAs in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), accompanied by reduced protein levels, that were correlated with depression-related behaviors. Moreover, postpartum, not virgin female mice showed increased susceptibility to subthreshold stress-induced depression-related behaviors. Selective deletion of BDNF in the mPFC induced anhedonia as indicated by reduced sucrose preference and increased latency to food in the novelty suppressed food test in postpartum, but not in virgin female mice. Furthermore, we found that FoxO1 is also decreased in CUS-treated postpartum female mice with a significant correlation with depression-related behaviors. BDNF-specific knockout in the mPFC decreased FoxO1 expression in female mice. Our results indicate that the BDNF-FoxO1 axis in mPFC can regulate depression-related behaviors and stress vulnerability in postpartum female mice.
Keyphrases
- stress induced
- depressive symptoms
- sleep quality
- transcription factor
- prefrontal cortex
- signaling pathway
- pi k akt
- healthcare
- wild type
- genome wide
- public health
- type diabetes
- multiple sclerosis
- endothelial cells
- long non coding rna
- adipose tissue
- gene expression
- social media
- climate change
- heat stress
- smoking cessation
- human health
- bone marrow
- small molecule
- blood brain barrier
- pregnancy outcomes
- newly diagnosed