Antidepressant drugs and psychotherapy combined are more effective in treating mood disorders than either treatment alone, but the neurobiological basis of this interaction is unknown. To investigate how antidepressants influence the response of mood-related systems to behavioral experience, we used a fear-conditioning and extinction paradigm in mice. Combining extinction training with chronic fluoxetine, but neither treatment alone, induced an enduring loss of conditioned fear memory in adult animals. Fluoxetine treatment increased synaptic plasticity, converted the fear memory circuitry to a more immature state, and acted through local brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Fluoxetine-induced plasticity may allow fear erasure by extinction-guided remodeling of the memory circuitry. Thus, the pharmacological effects of antidepressants need to be combined with psychological rehabilitation to reorganize networks rendered more plastic by the drug treatment.
Promoting adult hippocampal neurogenesis is expected to induce neuroplastic changes that improve mood and alleviate anxiety. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown and the hypothesis itself is controversial. Here we show that mice lacking Jnk1, or c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitor-treated mice, display increased neurogenesis in adult hippocampus characterized by enhanced cell proliferation and survival, and increased maturation in the ventral region. Correspondingly, anxiety behaviour is reduced in a battery of tests, except when neurogenesis is prevented by AraC treatment. Using engineered retroviruses, we show that exclusive inhibition of JNK in adult-born granule cells alleviates anxiety and reduces depressive-like behaviour. These data validate the neurogenesis hypothesis of anxiety. Moreover, they establish a causal role for JNK in the hippocampal neurogenic niche and anxiety behaviour, and advocate targeting of JNK as an avenue for novel therapies against affective disorders.
Housing conditions represent an important environmental variable playing a critical role in the assessment of mouse behaviour. In the present study the effects of isolation and nesting material on the behaviour of female C57BL/6J mice were evaluated. The mice were subjected to different rearing conditions from weaning (at the age of 3 weeks). The study groups were group- and single-housed mice, divided further into groups with or without nesting material (species-specific enrichment). After 8 weeks spent in respective conditions the behavioural testing began. Both factors (social conditions and nesting material) appeared to have a significant impact on the behavioural phenotype. However, it is important to stress that the interaction between the factors was virtually absent. We established that isolation increased locomotor activity and reduced anxiety-like behaviour in several tests of exploration. In contrast, absence of nesting material increased anxiety-like behaviour. Neither factor affected rota-rod performance, nociception and prepulse inhibition. Contextual fear memory was significantly reduced in single-housed mice, and interestingly, in mice with nesting material. Cued fear memory was reduced by single-housing, but not affected by enrichment. Mice from enriched cages displayed faster and better learning and spatial search strategy in the water maze. In contrast, isolation caused significant impairment in the water maze. In conclusion, both isolation and species-specific enrichment have profound effects on mouse behaviour and should be considered in design of the experiments and in assessment of animal welfare issues.
Chondroitin sulfate (CS) glycosaminoglycans inhibit regeneration in the adult central nervous system (CNS). We report here that HB-GAM (heparin-binding growth-associated molecule; also known as pleiotrophin), a CS-binding protein expressed at high levels in the developing CNS, reverses the role of the CS chains in neurite growth of CNS neurons in vitro from inhibition to activation. The CS-bound HB-GAM promotes neurite growth through binding to the cell surface proteoglycan glypican-2; furthermore, HB-GAM abrogates the CS ligand binding to the inhibitory receptor PTPσ (protein tyrosine phosphatase sigma). Our in vivo studies using two-photon imaging of CNS injuries support the in vitro studies and show that HB-GAM increases dendrite regeneration in the adult cerebral cortex and axonal regeneration in the adult spinal cord. Our findings may enable the development of novel therapies for CNS injuries.
It is widely acknowledged that the use of general anesthetics can undermine the relevance of electrophysiological or microscopical data obtained from a living animal's brain. Moreover, the lengthy recovery from anesthesia limits the frequency of repeated recording/imaging episodes in longitudinal studies. Hence, new methods that would allow stable recordings from non-anesthetized behaving mice are expected to advance the fields of cellular and cognitive neurosciences. Existing solutions range from mere physical restraint to more sophisticated approaches, such as linear and spherical treadmills used in combination with computer-generated virtual reality. Here, a novel method is described where a headfixed mouse can move around an air-lifted mobile homecage and explore its environment under stress-free conditions. This method allows researchers to perform behavioral tests (e.g., learning, habituation or novel object recognition) simultaneously with two-photon microscopic imaging and/or patch-clamp recordings, all combined in a single experiment. This video-article describes the use of the awake animal head fixation device (mobile homecage), demonstrates the procedures of animal habituation, and exemplifies a number of possible applications of the method.
Genetic anomalies on the JNK pathway confer susceptibility to autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and intellectual disability. The mechanism whereby a gain or loss of function in JNK signaling predisposes to these prevalent dendrite disorders, with associated motor dysfunction, remains unclear. Here we find that JNK1 regulates the dendritic field of L2/3 and L5 pyramidal neurons of the mouse motor cortex (M1), the main excitatory pathway controlling voluntary movement. In Jnk1-/- mice, basal dendrite branching of L5 pyramidal neurons is increased in M1, as is cell soma size, whereas in L2/3, dendritic arborization is decreased. We show that JNK1 phosphorylates rat HMW-MAP2 on T1619, T1622, and T1625 (Uniprot P15146) corresponding to mouse T1617, T1620, T1623, to create a binding motif, that is critical for MAP2 interaction with and stabilization of microtubules, and dendrite growth control. Targeted expression in M1 of GFP-HMW-MAP2 that is pseudo-phosphorylated on T1619, T1622, and T1625 increases dendrite complexity in L2/3 indicating that JNK1 phosphorylation of HMW-MAP2 regulates the dendritic field. Consistent with the morphological changes observed in L2/3 and L5, Jnk1-/- mice exhibit deficits in limb placement and motor coordination, while stride length is reduced in older animals. In summary, JNK1 phosphorylates HMW-MAP2 to increase its stabilization of microtubules while at the same time controlling dendritic fields in the main excitatory pathway of M1. Moreover, JNK1 contributes to normal functioning of fine motor coordination. We report for the first time, a quantitative Sholl analysis of dendrite architecture, and of motor behavior in Jnk1-/- mice. Our results illustrate the molecular and behavioral consequences of interrupted JNK1 signaling and provide new ground for mechanistic understanding of those prevalent neuropyschiatric disorders where genetic disruption of the JNK pathway is central.
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