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Circadian variations in behaviors, BDNF and cell proliferation in depressive mice

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Abstract

Neurotrophic factors are well-known to be involved in the pathophysiology of depression and treatment of antidepressants. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), one of the most widely distributed and the most highly studied neurotrophic factors, has been demonstrated to play an important role in the pathophysiology of depression and the mechanism of antidepressants. According to the previous studies, we found that animal tissues were dissected for BDNF measurement mainly in daytime. Considering the circadian rhythm of BDNF expression, our present study evaluated the circadian variations in behaviors, serum corticosterone concentrations, hippocampal BDNF expression and neuronal cell proliferation in mice exposed to chronic mild stress (CMS), one of the most widely used depression-like animal models. Our results provided the first evidence that the difference of BDNF expression and neuronal cell proliferation between CMS and control mice underwent an oscillation related to the circadian variations (maximum at 20:00 h, minimum at 12:00 h or 16:00 h), while the difference of sucrose preference and first feeding latency was not affected by circadian rhythm. This oscillation difference was attributed to the relative constant BDNF expression and cell proliferation in CMS mice and the fluctuating BDNF expression and cell proliferation in control mice. CMS exposure might destroy the circadian rhythm of BDNF expression and cell proliferation in hippocampus of normal individual. Our present study suggests that animal decapitation at 20:00 h is the best time for BDNF-related measurement in CMS experiment, since the difference reaches the maximum.

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Acknowledgments

The project was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81202940), the Science Research Foundation of ministry of Health & United Fujian Provincial Health and Education Project for Tacking the Key Research (WKJ-FJ-31), the Promotion Program for Young and Middle-aged Teacher in Science and Technology Research of Huaqiao University (ZQN-PY218), and the Outstanding Youth Scientific Research Training Program in Colleges and Universities of Fujian Province (JA14015).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen, 361021, Fujian province, People’s Republic of China

    Li-Tao Yi, Liu Luo, Yong-Jing Wu, Bin-Bin Liu, Xiao-Long Liu, Di Geng & Qing Liu

  2. Institute of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen, 361021, Fujian Province, People’s Republic of China

    Li-Tao Yi, Di Geng & Qing Liu

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  1. Li-Tao Yi
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  2. Liu Luo
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  3. Yong-Jing Wu
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  6. Di Geng
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  7. Qing Liu
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Correspondence to Li-Tao Yi.

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Yi, LT., Luo, L., Wu, YJ. et al. Circadian variations in behaviors, BDNF and cell proliferation in depressive mice. Metab Brain Dis 30, 1495–1503 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-015-9710-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-015-9710-0

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