title: Antidepressant dose of taurine increases mRNA expression of GABAA receptor α2 subunit and BDNF in the hippocampus of diabetic rats.
abstract: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder associated with higher risk for depression. Diabetic rats present depressive-like behaviors and taurine, one of the most abundant free amino acids in the brain, reverses this depressive behaviors. Because taurine is a GABAA agonist modulator, we hypothesize that its antidepressant effect results from the interaction on this system by changing α2 GABAA receptor subunit expression, beside changes on BDNF mRNA, and memory in diabetic rats. Streptozotocin-diabetic and non-diabetic Wistar rats were daily injected with 100mg/kg of taurine or saline, intraperitoneally, for 30 days. At the end of the experiment, rats were exposed to the novel object recognition memory. Later they were euthanized, the brains were weighed, and the hippocampus was dissected for α2 GABAA subunit and BDNF mRNA expression. Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) showed that diabetic rats presented lower α2 GABAA subunit and BDNF mRNA expression than non-diabetic rats and taurine increased both parameters in these sick rats. Taurine also reversed the lower brain weight and improved the short-term memory in diabetic rats. Thus, the taurine antidepressant effect may be explained by interference with the GABA system, in line to its neuroprotective effect showed here by preventing brain weight loss and improving memory in diabetic rats.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós Graduação de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre - UFCSPA, Sarmento Leite, 245, 90050-170, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: cgreice@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Greice
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caletti
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Farmacociências, Laboratório de Neuropsicofarmacologia, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre - UFCSPA, Sarmento Leite, 245, 90050-170, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Felipe Borges
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Molecular, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre - UFCSPA, Sarmento Leite, 245, 90050-170, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Grasiela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Agnes
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós Graduação de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre - UFCSPA, Sarmento Leite, 245, 90050-170, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Disciplina de Bioestatística, Centro Universitário Metodista do IPA, Cel. Joaquim Pedro Salgado, 80, 90420-60, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maurício Schüler
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Nin
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós Graduação de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre - UFCSPA, Sarmento Leite, 245, 90050-170, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Departamento de Farmacociências, Laboratório de Neuropsicofarmacologia, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre - UFCSPA, Sarmento Leite, 245, 90050-170, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Helena Maria Tannhauser
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Barros
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós Graduação de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre - UFCSPA, Sarmento Leite, 245, 90050-170, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Departamento de Farmacologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS, Sarmento Leite, 500, 90050-170, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rosane
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gomez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D057567:Memory, Long-Term / Q000187:drug effects; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000187:drug effects; D009929:Organ Size; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A / Q000378:metabolism*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects; D013654:Taurine / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; C520011:Gabra2 protein, rat; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A; D013654:Taurine
keywords: Amino acid; Brain atrophy; Depression; Mood disorders