title: Depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors and stress-related neuronal activation in vasopressin-deficient female Brattleboro rats.
abstract: Vasopressin can contribute to the development of stress-related psychiatric disorders, anxiety and depression. Although these disturbances are more common in females, most of the preclinical studies have been done in males. We compared female vasopressin-deficient and +/+ Brattleboro rats. To test anxiety we used open-field, elevated plus maze (EPM), marble burying, novelty-induced hypophagia, and social avoidance tests. Object and social recognition were used to assess short term memory. To test depression-like behavior consumption of sweet solutions (sucrose and saccharin) and forced swim test (FST) were studied. The stress-hormone levels were followed by radioimmunoassay and underlying brain areas were studied by c-Fos immunohistochemistry. In the EPM the vasopressin-deficient females showed more entries towards the open arms and less stretch attend posture, drank more sweet fluids and struggled more (in FST) than the +/+ rats. The EPM-induced stress-hormone elevations were smaller in vasopressin-deficient females without basal as well as open-field and FST-induced genotype-differences. On most studied brain areas the resting c-Fos levels were higher in vasopressin-deficient rats, but the FST-induced elevations were smaller than in the +/+ ones. Similarly to males, female vasopressin-deficient animals presented diminished depression- and partly anxiety-like behavior with significant contribution of stress-hormones. In contrast to males, vasopressin deficiency in females had no effect on object and social memory, and stressor-induced c-Fos elevations were diminished only in females. Thus, vasopressin has similar effect on anxiety- and depression-like behavior in males and females, while only in females behavioral alterations are associated with reduced neuronal reactivity in several brain areas.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1083 Budapest, Szigony 43, Hungary; János Szentágothai School of Neurosciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fodor
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1083 Budapest, Szigony 43, Hungary.
authors.forename: Krisztina Bea
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Kovács
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1083 Budapest, Szigony 43, Hungary; János Szentágothai School of Neurosciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Diána
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Balázsfi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1083 Budapest, Szigony 43, Hungary.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Klausz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1083 Budapest, Szigony 43, Hungary.
authors.forename: Ottó
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pintér
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1083 Budapest, Szigony 43, Hungary.
authors.forename: Kornél
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Demeter
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1083 Budapest, Szigony 43, Hungary; Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Daviu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1083 Budapest, Szigony 43, Hungary; Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rabasa
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1083 Budapest, Szigony 43, Hungary; Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rotllant
authors.affiliation: Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Roser
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nadal
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1083 Budapest, Szigony 43, Hungary. Electronic address: zelena.dora@koki.mta.hu.
authors.forename: Dóra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zelena
mesh_terms: D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000097:blood; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology; D003863:Depression / Q000235:genetics*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D008124:Locomotion / Q000235:genetics; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011910:Rats, Brattleboro; D055647:Rats, Transgenic; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D012919:Social Behavior; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D013550:Swimming / Q000523:psychology; D014667:Vasopressins / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D014667:Vasopressins; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone
keywords: Anxiety; Behavior; Central amygdala; Depression; Stress-hormones; c-Fos