title: Subchronic Arsenic Exposure Induces Anxiety-Like Behaviors in Normal Mice and Enhances Depression-Like Behaviors in the Chemically Induced Mouse Model of Depression.
abstract: Accumulating evidence implicates that subchronic arsenic exposure causes cerebral neurodegeneration leading to behavioral disturbances relevant to psychiatric disorders. However, there is still little information regarding the influence of subchronic exposure to arsenic-contaminated drinking water on mood disorders and its underlying mechanisms in the cerebral prefrontal cortex. The aim of this study is to assess the effects of subchronic arsenic exposure (10 mg/LAs2O3 in drinking water) on the anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in normal mice and in the chemically induced mouse model of depression by reserpine pretreatment. Our findings demonstrated that 4 weeks of arsenic exposure enhance anxiety-like behaviors on elevated plus maze (EPM) and open field test (OFT) in normal mice, and 8 weeks of arsenic exposure augment depression-like behaviors on tail suspension test (TST) and forced swimming test (FST) in the reserpine pretreated mice. In summary, in this present study, we demonstrated that subchronic arsenic exposure induces only the anxiety-like behaviors in normal mice and enhances the depression-like behaviors in the reserpine induced mouse model of depression, in which the cerebral prefrontal cortex BDNF-TrkB signaling pathway is involved. We also found that eight weeks of subchronic arsenic exposure are needed to enhance the depression-like behaviors in the mouse model of depression. These findings imply that arsenic could be an enhancer of depressive symptoms for those patients who already had the attribute of depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Chi Mei Medical Center, 901 Chung-Hwa Road, Yongkang, Tainan 710, Taiwan ; Department of Biotechnology, College of Engineering, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 1 Nan-Tai Street, Yongkang, Tainan 710, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, 138 Sheng-Li Road, Tainan 704, Taiwan ; Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, 138 Sheng-Li Road, Tainan 704, Taiwan ; Occupational Safety, Health, and Medicine Research Center, National Cheng Kung University, 138 Sheng-Li Road, Tainan 704, Taiwan ; Center for Occupational and Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, 138 Sheng-Li Road, Tainan 704, Taiwan.
authors.forename: How-Ran
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Engineering, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 1 Nan-Tai Street, Yongkang, Tainan 710, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wan-Chen
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Engineering, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 1 Nan-Tai Street, Yongkang, Tainan 710, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Kai-Lin
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Engineering, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 1 Nan-Tai Street, Yongkang, Tainan 710, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Li-Chuan
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Chi Mei Medical Center, 901 Chung-Hwa Road, Yongkang, Tainan 710, Taiwan ; Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, 138 Sheng-Li Road, Tainan 704, Taiwan ; Department of Occupational Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, 901 Chung-Hwa Road, Yongkang, Tainan 710, Taiwan ; Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Institute of Industrial Safety and Disaster Prevention, College of Sustainable Environment, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, No. 60, Section 1, Erh-Jen Road, Jen-Te, Tainan 711, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tain-Junn
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8332-3993
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College of Engineering, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 1 Nan-Tai Street, Yongkang, Tainan 710, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jiunn-Jye
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1289-8412
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Chuu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001151:Arsenic / Q000633:toxicity*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D020813:Receptor, trkB / Q000378:metabolism; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D013550:Swimming
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D020813:Receptor, trkB; D001151:Arsenic