title: Enhancement of dorsal hippocampal activity by knockdown of HCN1 channels leads to anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like behaviors.
abstract: The hippocampus is an integral brain region for affective disorders. TRIP8b knockout mice lacking functional HCN channels as well as both HCN1 and HCN2 knockout mice have been shown to display antidepressant-like behaviors. The mechanisms or brain regions involved in these alterations in behavior, however, are not clear. We developed a lentiviral shRNA system to examine whether knockdown of HCN1 protein in the dorsal hippocampal CA1 region is sufficient to produce antidepressant-like effects. We found that knockdown of HCN1 channels increased cellular excitability and resulted in physiological changes consistent with a reduction of I(h). Rats infused with lentiviral shRNA-HCN1 in the dorsal hippocampal CA1 region displayed antidepressant- and anxiolytic-like behaviors associated with widespread enhancement of hippocampal activity and upregulation of BDNF-mTOR signaling pathways. Our results suggest that HCN1 protein could be a potential target for treatment of anxiety and depression disorders.
authors.affiliation: Center for Learning and Memory, The Institute for Neuroscience, and Section of Neurobiology University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Chung Sub
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Payne Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Johnston
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D015153:Blotting, Western; D054815:Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Cation Channels / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D003863:Depression / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D064428:Hyperpolarization-Activated Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Channels; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D054815:Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Cation Channels; C578666:Hcn1 protein, mouse; C578667:Hcn1 protein, rat; D064428:Hyperpolarization-Activated Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Channels; D015221:Potassium Channels; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering