title: [Expression of miR-16 in the hippocampus of depressed adult rats induced by maternal deprivation].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To detect the expression of miR-16 in the hippocampus of a rat depression model induced by maternal deprivation, and to explore whether miR-16 is involved in the pathological process of maternal deprivation-induced depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Newborn SD rats were randomly divided into a maternal deprivation group (n=17) and a control group (n=17). Rats in the maternal deprivation group experienced maternal deprivation for 6 h per day from 1st to 14th postnatal day, while rats in the control group rats received no treatment. When the rats were 13 weeks old, depression-like behaviors were assessed by forced swimming test and sucrose consumption test, and the expression of hippocampal miR-16 in rats was detected by real-time RT-PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Maternal-deprived rats exhibited significantly longer passive floating time and lower sucrose preference rate than rats in the control group (P<0.05). Maternal-deprivation rats expressed higher level of miR-16 in the hippocampus than rats in the control group, and the expression level of miR-16 was significantly associated with the passive floating time (r=0.65, P<0.05) and the sucrose preference rate (r=-0.59, P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Maternal deprivation can induce depressive behaviors in rats and increase the expression of miR-16 in the hippocampus in rats. MiR-16 may be involved in the pathological mechanism of the maternal deprivation-induced depression.
authors.affiliation: Medical Psychological Institute, South University, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiongzhao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xue
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: C547573:MIRN16 microRNA, rat; D035683:MicroRNAs