miR-483-5p offsets functional and behavioural effects of stress in male mice through synapse-targeted repression of Pgap2 in the basolateral amygdala.

Severe psychological trauma triggers genetic, biochemical and morphological changes in amygdala neurons, which underpin the development of stress-induced behavioural abnormalities, such as high levels of anxiety. miRNAs are small, non-coding RNA fragments that orchestrate complex neuronal responses by simultaneous transcriptional/translational repression of multiple target genes. Here we show that miR-483-5p in the amygdala of male mice counterbalances the structural, functional and behavioural consequences of stress to promote a reduction in anxiety-like behaviour.

Increased neuroplasticity and hippocampal microglia activation in a mice model of rapid antidepressant treatment.

The search for biomarkers of antidepressant effects focused on pathways regulating synaptic plasticity, and on activated inflammatory markers. Repeated Sleep Deprivation (SD) provides a model treatment to reverse-translate antidepressant effects from in vivo clinical psychiatry to model organisms. We studied the effects of repeated SD alone (ASD) or combined with exercise on a slow spinning wheel (SSW), in 116 C57BL/6J male mice divided in three groups (ASD, SSW, untreated).