Glia atrophy in the hippocampus of chronic unpredictable stress-induced depression model rats is reversed by electroacupuncture treatment.
BACKGROUND
Growing evidence indicates that glia atrophy contributes to the pathophysiology and possibly the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder. Electroacupuncture (EA), one of Chinese traditional therapy, has potent antidepressant-like effect in many clinical studies. The mechanism by which EA improves behavioral deficits is still unclear.


METHODS
Chronic unpredictable stress (CUS)-induced depression model rats were used to study the effect of EA treatment. EA was performed on acupoints 'Bai-Hui' (Du 20) and unilateral 'An-Mian' (EX 17) once daily for three consecutive weeks, two weeks post CUS procedure. The antidepressant-like effect of EA treatment was analyzed by physical state (PS) and open field test (OFT). Astrocytic marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) level in the hippocampus was detected by immunohistochemistry, Western blot analysis and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).


RESULTS
Exposure to CUS resulted in a decrease of behavioral activity, whereas a daily session of EA treatment significantly reversed the behavioral deficit of these depression model rats. Moreover, the levels of GFAP mRNA and protein were decreased in the hippocampus of depression model rats. Intriguingly, EA treatment blocked effectively the decreased GFAP level.


CONCLUSIONS
The relative small number of the depression model rats may cause some bias of behavioral tests.


CONCLUSIONS
EA has potential antidepressant-like effect on CUS-induced depression model rats, which might be mediated by affecting the glial atrophy in the hippocampus.
Liu
Qiong
Q
Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, State Key Lab of Medical Neurobiology, Institutes of Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, P.R. China.
Li
Bing
B
Zhu
Hai-Yan
HY
Wang
Yan-Qing
YQ
Yu
Jin
J
Wu
Gen-Cheng
GC
D000818:Animals; D001284:Atrophy; D015153:Blotting, Western; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015671:Electroacupuncture; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000032:analysis; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000473:pathology*
D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein