title: Depression-like behavior in rat: Involvement of galanin receptor subtype 1 in the ventral periaqueductal gray.
abstract: The neuropeptide galanin coexists in rat brain with serotonin in the dorsal raphe nucleus and with noradrenaline in the locus coeruleus (LC), and it has been suggested to be involved in depression. We studied rats exposed to chronic mild stress (CMS), a rodent model of depression. As expected, these rats showed several endophenotypes relevant to depression-like behavior compared with controls. All these endophenotypes were normalized after administration of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. The transcripts for galanin and two of its receptors, galanin receptor 1 (GALR1) and GALR2, were analyzed with quantitative real-time PCR using laser capture microdissection in the following brain regions: the hippocampal formation, LC, and ventral periaqueductal gray (vPAG). Only Galr1 mRNA levels were significantly increased, and only in the latter region. After knocking down Galr1 in the vPAG with an siRNA technique, all parameters of the depressive behavioral phenotype were similar to controls. Thus, the depression-like behavior in rats exposed to CMS is likely related to an elevated expression of Galr1 in the vPAG, suggesting that a GALR1 antagonist could have antidepressant effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Neural Regeneration and Repair, Beijing Laboratory of Brain Disorders (Ministry of Science and Technology), Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China;
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Neural Regeneration and Repair, Beijing Laboratory of Brain Disorders (Ministry of Science and Technology), Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China;
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden;
authors.forename: Swapnali
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barde
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden; Division of Molecular Neurobiology, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden;
authors.forename: Ming-Dong
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Neural Regeneration and Repair, Beijing Laboratory of Brain Disorders (Ministry of Science and Technology), Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China;
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Neural Regeneration and Repair, Beijing Laboratory of Brain Disorders (Ministry of Science and Technology), Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China;
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Neural Regeneration and Repair, Beijing Laboratory of Brain Disorders (Ministry of Science and Technology), Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China;
authors.forename: Pan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Neural Regeneration and Repair, Beijing Laboratory of Brain Disorders (Ministry of Science and Technology), Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China;
authors.forename: Hanjiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100088, China;
authors.forename: Yongjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Neural Regeneration and Repair, Beijing Laboratory of Brain Disorders (Ministry of Science and Technology), Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China;
authors.forename: Yutao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100088, China;
authors.forename: Chuanyue
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center for Molecular Medicine, Department of Neurology and Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, SE-17176 Stockholm, Sweden;
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Svenningsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Chemistry and Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linkoping University, SE-58183 Linkoping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Elvar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Theodorsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden; zhiqingx@ccmu.edu.cn tomas.hokfelt@ki.se.
authors.forename: Tomas G M
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Hökfelt
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Neural Regeneration and Repair, Beijing Laboratory of Brain Disorders (Ministry of Science and Technology), Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China; zhiqingx@ccmu.edu.cn tomas.hokfelt@ki.se.
authors.forename: Zhi-Qing David
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008125:Locus Coeruleus / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010487:Periaqueductal Gray / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D044091:Receptor, Galanin, Type 1 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000502:physiology*; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D044091:Receptor, Galanin, Type 1; D012701:Serotonin; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
keywords: dorsal raphe; neuropeptide; siRNA; stress; transmitter coexistence