title: Behavioral evaluation of transgenic mice with CNS expression of IFN-alpha by elevated plus-maze and Porsolt swim test.
abstract: Chronic IFN-alpha treatment as an antiviral or anti-cancer therapy can lead to severe psychiatric complications, including depression and anxiety in patients. In many animal models of IFN-alpha-induced behavioral dysfunction, the opposite results have frequently been reported. In an attempt to overcome the limitation of pharmacological studies, IFN-alpha-transgenic mice with CNS-targeted expression of the IFN-alpha transgene were used to study depression and anxiety-like behaviors by Porsolt swim and elevated plus-maze assays, respectively. Interestingly, chronic stimulation of IFN-alpha signaling in mouse brains did not cause depression or anxiety as measured by these tests in comparison with wild-type littermates. This observation suggests that factors other than IFN-alpha may be necessary for the development of psychiatric complications following IFN-alpha therapy in patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Pharmacy, Kansas City, MO 64108, United States.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhanzhuang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D018782:Maze Learning; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D013550:Swimming
chemical_list: D016898:Interferon-alpha