title: Involvement of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the antidepressant-like effects of mild hypoxic preconditioning in rats.
abstract: The preconditioning (PC) by using mild intermittent hypobaric hypoxia (PC) increases a resistance of the brain to severe hypoxia/ischemia and various stresses. Recently, potent antidepressant-like effects of PC have been described in animal models of depression. In the present study, the impact of PC on the activity and feedback regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) impaired in depression has been studied in the model of shock-induced depression in rats. PC completely prevented depressive-like behavior (54% reduction in ambulance, 59% reduction in rearing in the open field, 654% increase of the anxiety level in the elevated plus maze), the HPA hyperactivity and the impairment of HPA feedback regulation that appeared in response to the inescapable footshock. Not affecting basal HPA activity, PC remarkably enhanced the HPA reactivity to stresses and substantially up-regulated the expression of glucocorticoid receptors in the ventral hippocampus following footshock that apparently contributes to the mechanisms responsible for the antidepressant-like action of PC.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Makarova 6, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. mos@kolt.infran.ru
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rybnikova
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mironova
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pivina
authors.forename: Ekaterina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tulkova
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ordyan
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nalivaeva
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Michail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Samoilov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004597:Electroshock; D006380:Helplessness, Learned; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010901:Pituitary Function Tests; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011965:Receptors, Glucocorticoid / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D011965:Receptors, Glucocorticoid; D003345:Corticosterone