Project description:Depression is a kind of mood disorder characterized by decline in motivation, interest, attention, mental activity, and appetite. Although depression is caused by a variety of causes, including genetic, endocrine and environmental stress, mild depression has been reported to improve with diet. Therefore, various type of food sources including functional and nutritional supplement are required to treat the depressive patients. Cheese contains bioactive peptides that have beneficial effects on host health. In particular, Jersey milk has been reported to contain higher solids than does Holstein milk. This study investigated the effects of Gouda cheese from Jersey and Holstein milk on chronic, unpredictable, mildly stressed (CUMS) mice. Here, spontaneous alterations in cheese-fed stressed mice were noted to be effectively recovered with statistical significance regardless cow species. Interestingly, for the analysis of fecal microbiota, Bacteroidetes were noted to increase with a reduction in Firmicutes at the phylum level with Jersey cheese. Taken together, we suggest that cheese intake provided a beneficial effect on stressed mice in recovering recognition ability. In particular, changes in internal microbiota were observed, suggesting that the bioactive ingredients in cheese act as improvement agents with respect to mood and brain function.
Project description:BACKGROUND: In a substantial proportion of depressed patients, stressful life events play a role in triggering the evolution of the illness. Exposure to stress has effects on different levels in laboratory animals as well and for the rat it has been shown that chronic mild stress (CMS) can cause antidepressant-reversible depressive-like effects. The adoption of the model to the mouse seems to be problematic, depending on the strain used and behavioural endpoint defined. Our aim was to evaluate the applicability of CMS to mice in order to induce behavioural alterations suggested to reflect depression-like symptoms. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A weekly CMS protocol was applied to male mice of different mouse strains (D2Ola, BL/6J and BL/6N) and its impact on stress-sensitive behavioural measures (anhedonia-, anxiety- and depression-related parameters) and body weight was assessed. Overnight illumination as commonly used stressor in CMS protocols was particularly investigated in terms of its effect on general activity and subsequently derived saccharin intake. CMS application yielded strain-dependent behavioural and physiological responses including 'paradox' anxiolytic-like effects. Overnight illumination was found to be sufficient to mimic anhedonic-like behaviour in BL/6J mice when being applied as sole stressor. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The CMS procedure induced some behavioural changes that are compatible with the common expectations, i.e. 'anhedonic' behaviour, but in parallel behavioural alterations were observed which would be described as 'anomalous' (e.g. decreased anxiety). The results suggest that a shift in the pattern of circadian activity has a particular high impact on the anhedonic profile. Changes in activity in response to novelty seem to drive the 'anomalous' behavioural alterations as well.
Project description:BackgroundThe pathogenesis of depression is closely related to changes in hippocampal synaptic plasticity; however, the underlying mechanism is still unclear. Brain-specific angiogenesis inhibitor 1-associated protein 2 (BAIAP2), a postsynaptic scaffold protein in excitatory synapses important for synaptic plasticity, is highly expressed in the hippocampus and has been implicated in several psychiatric disorders. However, the role of BAIAP2 in depression remains poorly understood.MethodsIn the present study, a mouse model of depression was established via exposure to chronic mild stress (CMS). An adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector expressing BAIAP2 was injected into the hippocampal brain region of mice and a BAIAP2 overexpression plasmid was transfected into HT22 cells to upregulate BAIAP2 expression. Depression- and anxiety-like behaviors and dendritic spine density were examined in mice using behavioral tests and Golgi staining, respectively. In vitro, hippocampal HT22 cells were treated with corticosterone (CORT) to simulate the stress state, and the effect of BAIAP2 on CORT-induced cell injury was explored. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting were employed to determine the expression levels of BAIAP2 and those of the synaptic plasticity-related proteins glutamate receptor ionotropic, AMPA 1 (GluA1), and synapsin 1 (SYN1).ResultsMice exposed to CMS exhibited depression- and anxiety-like behaviors accompanied by decreased levels of BAIAP2 in the hippocampus. In vitro, the overexpression of BAIAP2 increased the survival rate of CORT-treated HT22 cells and upregulated the expression of GluA1 and SYN1. Consistent with the in vitro data, the AAV-mediated overexpression of BAIAP2 in the hippocampus of mice significantly inhibited CMS-induced depression-like behavior, concomitant with increases in dendritic spine density and the expression of GluA1 and SYN1 in hippocampal regions.ConclusionOur findings indicate that hippocampal BAIAP2 can prevent stress-induced depression-like behavior and may be a promising target for the treatment of depression or other stress-related diseases.
Project description:Even though it has been well documented that stress can lead to the development of sleep disorders and the intensification of pain, their relationships have not been fully understood. The present study was aimed at investigating the effects of predictable chronic mild stress (PCMS) on sleep-wake states and pain threshold, using the PCMS rearing conditions of mesh wire (MW) and water (W) for 21 days. Exposure to PCMS decreased the amount of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep during the dark phase. Moreover, the chronicity of PCMS decreased slow-wave activity (SWA) during NREM sleep in the MW and W groups in both the light and dark phases. Mechanical and aversively hot thermal hyperalgesia were more intensified in the PCMS groups than the control. Higher plasma corticosterone levels were seen in mice subjected to PCMS, whereas TNF-α expression was found higher in the hypothalamus in the W and the trigeminal ganglion in the MW group. The W group had higher expression levels of IL-6 in the thalamus as well. The PCMS paradigm decreased SWA and may have intensified mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia. The current study also suggests that rearing under PCMS may cause impaired sleep quality and heightened pain sensation to painful mechanical and aversively hot thermal stimuli.
Project description:Experiencing chronic stress significantly increases the risk for depression. Depression is a complex disorder with varied symptoms across patients. However, feeling of sadness and decreased motivation, and diminished feeling of pleasure (anhedonia) appear to be core to most depressive pathology. Odorants are potent signals that serve a critical role in social interactions, avoiding danger, and consummatory behaviors. Diminished quality of olfactory function is associated with negative effects on quality of life leading to and aggravating the symptoms of depression. Odor hedonic value (I like or I dislike this smell) is a dominant feature of olfaction and guides approach or avoidance behavior of the odor source. The neural representation of the hedonic value of odorants is carried by the granule cells in the olfactory bulb, which functions to modulate the cortical relay of olfactory information. The granule cells of the olfactory bulb and those of the dentate gyrus are the two major populations of cells in the adult brain with continued neurogenesis into adulthood. In hippocampus, decreased neurogenesis has been linked to development or maintenance of depression symptoms. Here, we hypothesize that chronic mild stress can alter olfactory hedonics through effects on the olfactory bulb neurogenesis, contributing to the broader anhedonia phenotype in stress-associated depression. To test this, mice were subjected to chronic unpredictable mild stress and then tested on measures of depressive-like behaviors, odor hedonics, and measures of olfactory neurogenesis. Chronic unpredictable mild stress led to a selective effect on odor hedonics, diminishing attraction to pleasant but not unpleasant odorants, an effect that was accompanied by a specific decrease in adult neurogenesis and of the percentage of adult-born cells responding to pleasant odorants in the olfactory bulb.
Project description:BackgroundRhodomyrtone is one of the main active compounds derived from Rhodomyrtus tomentosa, which belongs to the Myrtaceae family. In the current study, we investigated the properties of rhodomyrtone as a potential drug candidate for the treatment of stress-caused depression.MethodsWe assessed the function of rhodomyrtone in chronic unpredictable mild stress, a well-validated depression model in mice. Depression-like behavior tests, including a sucrose performance test, social interaction test, and forced swimming test, were used to validate the antidepressant effects of rhodomyrtone. The Morris water maze was used to evaluate the mice's learning and memory ability. Spine density, glycogen synthase kinase-3β, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, postsynaptic density protein 95, and apoptosis-associated protein were detected to reveal the underlying mechanism.ResultsRhodomyrtone was found to prevent source consumption decrease, decreased social behaviors, and increase immobility in the forced swimming test, suggesting a protective effect of rhodomyrtone against depression-like behaviors. Additionally, rhodomyrtone prevented the impairment of spatial memory in mice exposed to chronic unpredictable mild stress. Rhodomyrtone administration also reversed dendritic spine density defects in chronic unpredictable mild stress. Furthermore, rhodomyrtone inhibited the increase of glycogen synthase kinase-3β activity and reversed the decrease of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and postsynaptic density protein 95 in chronic unpredictable mild stress mice. Elevated expression of apoptosis-associated protein Bax and cleaved-caspase 3 was also reversed by rhodomyrtone treatment.ConclusionsThese results suggested that the antidepressant effect of rhodomyrtone involves the regulation of neurogenesis, neuronal survival, and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus.
Project description:Accumulating evidence indicates that dysfunction of the glutamatergic neurotransmission has been widely involved in the pathophysiology and treatment of depression. Photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) has been demonstrated to regulate neuronal function both in vitro and in vivo. Herein, we aim to investigate whether the antidepressant phenotype of PBMT is associated with the improvement of glutamatergic dysfunction and to explore the mechanisms involved. Results showed that PBMT decreased extracellular glutamate levels via upregulation of glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1) and rescued astrocyte loss in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, which also alleviated dendritic atrophy and upregulated the expression of AMPA receptors on the postsynaptic membrane, ultimately exhibiting behaviorally significant antidepressant effects in mice exposed to chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS). Notably, PBMT also obtained similar antidepressant effects in a depressive mouse model subcutaneously injected with corticosterone (CORT). Evidence from in vitro mechanistic experiments demonstrated that PBMT treatment significantly increased both the GLT-1 mRNA and protein levels via the Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway. NF-κB-regulated transcription was in an Akt-dependent manner, while inhibition of Akt attenuated the DNA-binding efficiency of NF-κB to the GLT-1 promoter. Importantly, in vitro, we further found that PKA activation was responsible for phosphorylation and surface levels of AMPA receptors induced by PBMT, which is likely to rescue excitatory synaptic transmission. Taken together, our research suggests that PBMT as a feasible therapeutic approach has great potential value to control the progression of depression.
Project description:Materials and methodsIn the present experimental study, male NMRI mice were exposed to chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) paradigm for 35 days. Diosmetin (at doses of 10, 20, and 40 mg/kg. i.p.) or diosmetin solvent (normal saline + DMSO, 1 ml/kg; i.p.) was administered 30 min before stress induction. After 28 days, memory and cognitive performance were assessed by shuttle box and novel object recognition tests. Finally, antioxidant capacity (FRAP) and malondialdehyde (MDA) level of serum and brain, and serum corticosterone level were evaluated.ResultsBehavioral tests showed that CUMS significantly reduced the secondary latency in passive avoidance memory test and diagnosis index in novel object recognition test compared to the control group (P < 0.001), whereas treatment with diosmetin (20 and 40 mg/kg) significantly improved memory performance in the two tests (P < 0.001). In addition, diosmetin (40 mg/kg) could pronouncedly suppress increase in serum corticosterone levels, reduction in antioxidant capacity, and production of excess MDA caused by CUMS compared to the control group (P < 0.01, P < 0.001, and P < 0.001, respectively).ConclusionChronic stress can impair memory and cognition and treatment with diosmetin can partly improve this disorder in male mice by increasing the antioxidant capacity of brain tissue and serum and improving serum corticosterone levels.
Project description:Proving functionality in the host environment is a crucial step in antimicrobial development pipelines. Antibiotics targeting fatty acid synthesis (FASII) of the major pathogen Staphylococcus aureus actively inhibit FASII but do not prevent in vivo growth, as bacteria compensate the FASII block by using environmental fatty acids. We used proteomics and phosphoproteomics to elucidate S. aureus responses to anti-FASII in host-relevant conditions. S. aureus responded to anti-FASII treatment in serum by massive reprogramming. A striking inverse correlation was observed in anti-FASII-adapted S. aureus, between amounts of stress response proteins that increase, and virulence factors that decrease. These findings suggest that anti-FASII adapted cells might be better prepared for survival and less equipped to damage the host. Infection by anti-FASII-adapted versus non-treated S. aureus was challenged in the Galleria mellonella model. Time to mortality was longer in insects infected by anti-FASII-treated bacteria compared to those infected by non-treated S. aureus. However, bacterial counts in infected dead insects were comparable for both groups. These results support the hypothesis that higher stress response and lower virulence factor expression, as shown here in FASII-antibiotic-adapted bacteria, may set the stage for persistent infection