Brainstem transcriptomic changes in male Wistar rats after acute stress, comparing the use of duplex specific nuclease (DSN).

In this work, we have analyzed the transcriptomic changes in the brainstem of male Wistar rats 2 h after an acute stress exposure. We performed duplex-specific nuclease normalization of cDNA libraries and compared the results back-to-back for the first time. Based on our RNAseq data, we selected reference genes for RT-qPCR that are best suited for acute stress experiments.

Genes Involved by Dexamethasone in Prevention of Long-Term Memory Impairment Caused by Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Neuroinflammation.

Inflammatory activation within the brain is linked to a decrease in cognitive abilities; however, the molecular mechanisms implicated in the development of inflammatory-related cognitive dysfunction and its prevention are poorly understood. This study compared the responses of hippocampal transcriptomes 3 months after the striatal infusion of lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 30 µg), resulting in memory loss, or with dexamethasone (DEX; 5 mg/kg intraperitoneal) pretreatment, which abolished the long-term LPS-induced memory impairment. After LPS treatment, a significant elevation in the expression of immunity/inflammatory-linked genes, including chemokines (), cytokines ( and ), and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II members (, , , , and ) was observed.

Anti-Apoptotic Protein Bcl-xL Expression in the Midbrain Raphe Region Is Sensitive to Stress and Glucocorticoids.

Anti-apoptotic proteins are suggested to be important for the normal health of neurons and synapses as well as for resilience to stress. In order to determine whether stressful events may influence the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-xL in the midbrain and specifically in the midbrain serotonergic (5-HT) neurons involved in neurobehavioral responses to adverse stimuli, adult male rats were subjected to short-term or chronic forced swim stress. A short-term stress rapidly increased the midbrain bcl-xl mRNA levels and significantly elevated Bcl-xL immunoreactivity in the midbrain 5-HT cells.

Behavioral effects of glucocorticoids during the first exposures to the forced swim stress.

Rationale: Glucocorticoids facilitate coping with stress, but their high levels have been also implicated in mood disorders. Due to this duality, the role of glucocorticoid signaling in the development of the first episodes of stress-induced depression remains unclear.

Objectives: To address this issue, effects of the glucocorticoid signal modulation on depressive-like behavior during pretest and test Porsolt swim sessions were examined.

Social isolation during peri-adolescence or adulthood: effects on sexual motivation, testosterone and corticosterone response under conditions of sexual arousal in male rats.

Reproductive functions in adult organism are known to be affected by different factors. Effects of social environment at the postnatal ontogenesis attract particular attention since it has deep impact on the development of physiological and emotional state of an individual. Effects of chronic social isolation at different ages on male sexual motivation, testosterone and corticosterone response under conditions of sexual arousal were studied in Wistar rats.

Increased expression of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-xL in the brain is associated with resilience to stress-induced depression-like behavior.

Clinical observations and the results of animal studies have implicated changes in neuronal survival and plasticity in both the etiology of mood disorders, especially stress-induced depression, and anti-depressant drug action. Stress may predispose individuals toward depression through down-regulation of neurogenesis and an increase in apoptosis in the brain. Substantial individual differences in vulnerability to stress are evident in humans and were found in experimental animals.

Resistance to the development of stress-induced behavioral despair in the forced swim test associated with elevated hippocampal Bcl-xl expression.

Stress may predispose individuals toward depression through down-regulation of neurogenesis and increase in apoptosis in the brain. However, many subjects show high resistance to stress in relation to psychopathology. In the present study, we assessed the possibility that individual-specific patterns of gene expression associated with cell survival and proliferation may be among the molecular factors underlying stress resilience.

MAO A knockout attenuates adrenocortical response to various kinds of stress.

The effect of a lack of the gene encoding monoamine oxidase A (MAO A) in transgenic Tg 8 mice on the corticosterone response to restraint, cold, water deprivation-induced, or social acute stress as well as chronic variable stress was studied. It was found that Tg 8 mice with genetic MAO A knockout and wild-type C3H/HeJ (C3H) strain showed similar plasma corticosterone resting level. MAO A knockout mice differed from C3H mice by attenuated response to restraint (60 min), cold (4 degrees C, 60 min), and water deprivation (48 h) as well as to a chronic (15 days) variable stress.

Immediate and long-lasting effects of chronic stress in the prepubertal age on the startle reflex.

The immediate and long-lasting effects of two models of chronic stress during the prepubertal period of life (21-32 days) on the acoustic startle response (ASR) were studied in outbred Wistar normotensives and rats with inherited stress-induced arterial hypertension (ISIAH) derived from them. Chronic variable stress (CVS) and repeated handling were used as chronic treatment. The obtained data showed a significantly attenuated ASR and a greater magnitude of prepulse inhibition (PPI) in juvenile and adult ISIAH compared to Wistar rats.