Objective To investigate the cause of migrant workers' children's emotions and behaviors and to provide basis for intervening measures. Methods The parents of 546 migrant workers' children and 510 urban children in primary school in Hangzhou were assessed with the Survey on General Condition and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to survey the difference of the rate of abnormal emotion and behavior between two groups. The factors were analyzed using multiple linear regressions. Results There was no difference between the two groups on the age, gender, ethnic group and grade (P>0.05) . The rate of registered rural residents and one-child family were higher during the general primary school students than the migrant workers' children. According to the SDQ, the abnormal rates of migrant workers' children were higher than the general primary school students in the behavioral problem, peer communication, social behavior, difficult factors, impact factors (P<0.05 for all) . Multiple linear regression showed that the factors that there were more emotional and behavioral problems with the male (β:0.063-0.117, P<0.05 for all), the one-child (β: 0.075-0.369, P<0.05 for all), lower scores (β: 0.239-0.715, P<0.05 for all) and the lower grade (β=-0.089, P<0.05) . Conclusion The emotional and behavioral problems of migrant workers' children were outstanding.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common mood disorder that affects almost 20% of the global population. In addition, much evidence has implicated altered function of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABAergic) system in the pathophysiology of depression. Recent research has indicated that GABA receptors (GABARs) are an emerging therapeutic target in the treatment of stress-related disorders such as MDD. However, which cell types with GABARs are involved in this process is unknown. As hippocampal dysfunction is implicated in MDD, we knocked down GABARs in the hippocampus and found that knocking down these receptors in astrocytes, but not in GABAergic or pyramidal neurons, caused a decrease in immobility in the forced swimming test (FST) without affecting other anxiety- and depression-related behaviors. We also generated astrocyte-specific GABAR-knockout mice and found decreased immobility in the FST in these mice. Furthermore, the conditional knockout of GABARs in astrocytes selectively increased the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor protein in hippocampal astrocytes, which controlled the decrease in immobility in the FST. Taken together, our findings contribute to the current understanding of which cell types expressing GABARs modulate antidepressant activity in the FST, and they may provide new insights into the pathological mechanisms and potential targets for the treatment of depression.