The influence of chronic stress on anxiety-like behavior and cognitive function in different human GFAP-ApoE transgenic adult male mice.
The apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ɛ4 allele (ApoE4) is an important genetic risk factor for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In addition to genetic factors, environmental factors such as stress may play a critical role in AD pathogenesis. This study was designed to investigate the anxiety-like behavioral and cognitive changes in different human glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-ApoE transgenic adult male mice under chronic stress conditions. On the open field test, anxiety-like behavior was increased in the non-stressed GFAP-ApoE4 transgenic mice relative to the corresponding GFAP-ApoE3 (ApoE ɛ3 allele) mice. Anxiety-like behavior was increased in the stressed GFAP-ApoE3 mice relative to non-stressed GFAP-ApoE3 mice, but was unexpectedly decreased in the stressed GFAP-ApoE4 mice relative to non-stressed GFAP-ApoE4 mice. On the novel object recognition task, both GFAP-ApoE4 and GFAP-ApoE3 mice exhibited long-term non-spatial memory impairment after chronic stress. Interestingly, short-term non-spatial memory impairment (based on the novel object recognition task) was observed only in the stressed GFAP-ApoE4 male mice relative to non-stressed GFAP-ApoE4 transgenic mice. In addition, short-term spatial memory impairment was observed in the stressed GFAP-ApoE3 transgenic male mice relative to non-stressed GFAP-ApoE3 transgenic male mice; however, short-term spatial memory performance of GFAP-ApoE4 transgenic male mice was not reduced compared to non-stressed control mice based on the Y-maze task. In conclusion, our findings suggested that chronic stress affects anxiety-like behavior and spatial and non-spatial memory in GFAP-ApoE transgenic mice in an ApoE isoform-dependent manner.
a CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Diseases, School of Life Sciences , University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) , Hefei , Anhui , P.R. China and.
Fan-Tao
FT
Meng
a CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Diseases, School of Life Sciences , University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) , Hefei , Anhui , P.R. China and.
Jun
J
Zhao
a CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Diseases, School of Life Sciences , University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) , Hefei , Anhui , P.R. China and.
Hui
H
Fang
b Core Faculty Center for Life Sciences , USTC , Hefei , Anhui , P.R. China.
Ya-Jing
YJ
Liu
D000544:Alzheimer Disease; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D053318:Apolipoprotein E3 / Q000235:genetics*; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4 / Q000235:genetics*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003071:Cognition; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057567:Memory, Long-Term; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D012149:Restraint, Physical; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology
D053318:Apolipoprotein E3; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein
Alzheimer’s disease; anxiety; apolipoprotein E; chronic stress; cognition; transgenic