OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of hippocampal neurodevelopment in the antidepressant effect of baicalin. METHODS: Forty male Institute of Cancer Research mice were divided into control, corticosterone (CORT, 40 mg/kg), CORT+baicalin-L (25 mg/kg), CORT+baicalin-H (50 mg/kg), and CORT+fluoxetine (10 mg/kg) groups according to a random number table. An animal model of depression was established by chronic CORT exposure. Behavioral tests were used to assess the reliability of depression model and the antidepressant effect of baicalin. In addition, Nissl staining and immunofluorescence were used to evaluate the effect of baicalin on hippocampal neurodevelopment in mice. The protein and mRNA expression levels of neurodevelopment-related factors were detected by Western blot analysis and real-time polymerase chain reaction, respectively. RESULTS: Baicalin significantly ameliorated the depressive-like behavior of mice resulting from CORT exposure and promoted the development of dentate gyrus in hippocampus, thereby reversing the depressive-like pathological changes in hippocampal neurons caused by CORT neurotoxicity. Moreover, baicalin significantly decreased the protein and mRNA expression levels of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), and upregulated the expression levels of cell cycle protein D1, p-mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), doublecortin, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (all P<0.01). There were no significant differences between baicalin and fluoxetine groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION Baicalin can promote the development of hippocampal neurons via mTOR/GSK3β signaling pathway, thus protect mice against CORT-induced neurotoxicity and play an antidepressant role.
Male ; Animals ; Mice ; Corticosterone ; Fluoxetine/metabolism* ; Depression/chemically induced* ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta/metabolism* ; Reproducibility of Results ; Antidepressive Agents/pharmacology* ; Hippocampus ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism* ; RNA, Messenger/genetics* ; Behavior, Animal ; Disease Models, Animal ; Mammals/metabolism*

Females increase aggression for mating opportunities and for acquiring reproductive resources. Although the close relationship between female aggression and mating status is widely appreciated, whether and how female aggression is regulated by mating-related cues remains poorly understood. Here we report an interesting observation that Drosophila virgin females initiate high-frequency attacks toward mated females. We identify 11-cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA), a male-derived pheromone transferred to females during mating, which promotes virgin female aggression. We subsequently reveal a cVA-responsive neural circuit consisting of four orders of neurons, including Or67d, DA1, aSP-g, and pC1 neurons, that mediate cVA-induced virgin female aggression. We also determine that aSP-g neurons release acetylcholine (ACh) to excite pC1 neurons via the nicotinic ACh receptor nAChRα7. Together, beyond revealing cVA as a mating-related inducer of virgin female aggression, our results identify a neural circuit linking the chemosensory perception of mating-related cues to aggressive behavior in Drosophila females.
Animals ; Male ; Female ; Drosophila/physiology* ; Drosophila Proteins/physiology* ; Cues ; Sexual Behavior, Animal/physiology* ; Aggression/physiology* ; Drosophila melanogaster/physiology*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms by which silence information regulator (SIRT) 2 and glutaminase (GLS) in the amygdala regulate social behaviors in autistic rats. METHODS: Rat models of autism were established by maternal sodium valproic acid (VPA) exposure in wild-type rats and SIRT2-knockout ( SIRT2 ^-/-) rats. Glutamate (Glu) content, brain weight, and expression levels of SIRT2, GLS proteins and apoptosis-associated proteins in rat amygdala at different developmental stages were examined, and the social behaviors of VPA rats were assessed by a three-chamber test. Then, lentiviral overexpression or interference vectors of GLS were injected into the amygdala of VPA rats. Brain weight, Glu content and expression level of GLS protein were measured, and the social behaviors assessed. RESULTS: Brain weight, amygdala Glu content and the levels of SIRT2, GLS protein and pro-apoptotic protein caspase-3 in the amygdala were increased in VPA rats, while the level of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 was decreased (all P<0.01). Compared with the wild-type rats, SIRT2 ^-/- rats displayed decreased expression of SIRT2 and GLS proteins in the amygdala, reduced Glu content, and improved social dysfunction (all P<0.01). Overexpression of GLS increased brain weight and Glu content, and aggravated social dysfunction in VPA rats (all P<0.01). Knockdown of GLS decreased brain weight and Glu content, and improved social dysfunction in VPA rats (all P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS The glutamate circulatory system in the amygdala of VPA induced autistic rats is abnormal. This is associated with the upregulation of SIRT2 expression and its induced increase of GLS production; knocking out SIRT2 gene or inhibiting the expression of GLS is helpful in maintaining the balanced glutamate cycle and in improving the social behavior disorder of rats.
Animals ; Rats ; Amygdala/metabolism* ; Autistic Disorder/metabolism* ; Behavior, Animal ; Disease Models, Animal ; Glutamates/metabolism* ; Glutaminase/metabolism* ; Sirtuin 2/metabolism* ; Social Behavior

This paper was aimed to clarify the effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on depression. Animal running platforms were used to establish HIIT exercise models, depression models were prepared by chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS), and depression-related behaviors were detected by behavioral experiments. The results showed that HIIT exercise improved depression-related behavior in CUMS model mice. Western blot and ELISA results showed that in the hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and amygdala of the CUMS model mice, glucocorticoid receptor (GR) protein expression was down-regulated, and the content of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) was increased, compared with those in the control group, whereas HIIT exercise could effectively reverse these changes in CUMS model mice. These results suggest that HIIT exercise can exert antidepressant effect, which brings new ideas and means for the clinical treatment of depressive diseases.
Animals ; Antidepressive Agents/pharmacology* ; Behavior, Animal ; Depression/drug therapy* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Hippocampus/metabolism* ; Mice ; Stress, Psychological/drug therapy*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the pharmacodynamic material basis, mechanism of actions and targeted diseases of Salicornia europaea L. (SE) based on the network pharmacology method, and to verify the antidepressant-like effect of the SE extract by pharmacological experiments. METHODS: Retrieval tools including Chinese medicine (CM), PubMed, PharmMapper, MAS 3.0 and Cytoscape were used to search the components of SE, predict its targets and related therapeutic diseases, and construct the "Component-Target-Pathway" network of SE for central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Further, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) function annotation of depression-related targets were analyzed to predict the antidepressant mechanism of SE. Chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model was used to construct a mouse model with depression-like symptoms. And the animals were randomly divided into 6 groups (n=10) including the normal group (nonstressed mice administered with distilled water), the CUMS group (CUMS mice administered with distilled water), the venlafaxine group (CUMS mice administered with venlafaxine 9.38 mg/kg), SE high-, medium-, and low-dose groups (CUMS mice administered with SE 1.8, 1.35 and 0.9 g/kg, respectively). Then some relevant indicators were determined for experimental verification by the forced swim test (FST), the tail suspension test (TST) and open-field test (OFT). Dopamine (DA) concentration in hippocampus and cerebral cortex, IL-2 and corticosterone (CORT) levels in blood, and nuclear factor E2 related factor 2 (Nrf2), kelch-like epichlorohydrin related protein 1 (Keap1), NAD(P) H dehydrogenase [quinone] 1 (NQO1) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) levels in mice were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot respectively to explore the possible mechanisms. RESULTS: The "target-disease" network diagram predicted by network pharmacology, showed that the potential target of SE involves a variety of CNS diseases, among which depression accounts for the majority. The experimental results showed that SE (1.8, 1.35 g/kg) significantly decreased the immobility period, compared with the CUMS group in FST and TST in mice after 3-week treatment, while SE exhibited no significant effect on exploratory behavior in OFT in mice. Compared with CUMS group, the SE group (0.9 g/kg) showed significant differences (P<0.05) in DA levels in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. In addition, compared with CUMS control group, SE (1.8 g/kg) group showed a significant effect on decreasing the activities of CORT (P<0.05), and serum IL-2 level with no statistical significance. Finally, Western blot results showed that compared with the model group, Nrf2, Keap1, NQO1 and HO-1 protein expressions in SE group (1.8 g/kg) were up-regulated (all P<0.01). CONCLUSION The SE extract may have an antidepressant effect, which appeared to regulate Nrf2-ARE pathway and increased levels of DA and CORT in the hippocampus and cortex.
Animals ; Antidepressive Agents/therapeutic use* ; Behavior, Animal ; Chenopodiaceae/metabolism* ; Depression/drug therapy* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Hippocampus ; Kelch-Like ECH-Associated Protein 1/metabolism* ; Mice ; NF-E2-Related Factor 2/metabolism* ; Network Pharmacology ; Plant Extracts/therapeutic use* ; Stress, Psychological/drug therapy*

Understanding the connection between brain and behavior in animals requires precise monitoring of their behaviors in three-dimensional (3-D) space. However, there is no available three-dimensional behavior capture system that focuses on rodents. Here, we present MouseVenue3D, an automated and low-cost system for the efficient capture of 3-D skeleton trajectories in markerless rodents. We improved the most time-consuming step in 3-D behavior capturing by developing an automatic calibration module. Then, we validated this process in behavior recognition tasks, and showed that 3-D behavioral data achieved higher accuracy than 2-D data. Subsequently, MouseVenue3D was combined with fast high-resolution miniature two-photon microscopy for synchronous neural recording and behavioral tracking in the freely-moving mouse. Finally, we successfully decoded spontaneous neuronal activity from the 3-D behavior of mice. Our findings reveal that subtle, spontaneous behavior modules are strongly correlated with spontaneous neuronal activity patterns.
Animals ; Behavior, Animal ; Brain/diagnostic imaging* ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional/methods* ; Mice ; Neuroimaging ; Rodentia

Animals ; Aedes/physiology* ; Hot Temperature ; Feeding Behavior ; Behavior, Animal/physiology*

Nervous systems must not only generate specific adaptive behaviors, such as reproduction, aggression, feeding, and sleep, but also select a single behavior for execution at any given time, depending on both internal states and external environmental conditions. Despite their tremendous biological importance, the neural mechanisms of action selection remain poorly understood. In the past decade, studies in the model animal Drosophila melanogaster have demonstrated valuable neural mechanisms underlying action selection of innate behaviors. In this review, we summarize circuit mechanisms with a particular focus on a small number of sexually dimorphic neurons in controlling action selection among sex, fight, feeding, and sleep behaviors in both sexes of flies. We also discuss potentially conserved circuit configurations and neuromodulation of action selection in both the fly and mouse models, aiming to provide insights into action selection and the sexually dimorphic prioritization of innate behaviors.
Animals ; Mice ; Male ; Female ; Drosophila melanogaster/physiology* ; Sexual Behavior, Animal/physiology* ; Instinct ; Neurons/physiology* ; Aggression/physiology*

The choice of females to accept or reject male courtship is a critical decision for animal reproduction. Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) has been found to regulate sexual behavior in many species, but it is unclear how 5-HT and its receptors function to regulate different aspects of sexual behavior. Here we used Drosophila melanogaster as the model animal to investigate how 5-HT and its receptors modulate female sexual receptivity. We found that knockout of tryptophan hydroxylase (Trh), which is involved in the biosynthesis of 5-HT, severely reduced virgin female receptivity without affecting post-mating behaviors. We identified a subset of sexually dimorphic Trh neurons that co-expressed fruitless (fru), in which the activity was correlated with sexual receptivity in females. We also found that 5-HT_1A and 5-HT₇ receptors regulate virgin female receptivity. Our findings demonstrate how 5-HT functions in sexually dimorphic neurons to promote virgin female receptivity through two of its receptors.
Animals ; Male ; Female ; Drosophila/physiology* ; Drosophila melanogaster/physiology* ; Serotonin ; Drosophila Proteins/physiology* ; Sexual Behavior, Animal/physiology* ; Transcription Factors ; Nerve Tissue Proteins

BACKGROUND: Arsenic is a developmental neurotoxicant. It means that its neurotoxic effect could occur in offspring by maternal arsenic exposure. Our previous study showed that developmental arsenic exposure impaired social behavior and serotonergic system in C3H adult male mice. These effects might affect the next generation with no direct exposure to arsenic. This study aimed to detect the social behavior and related gene expression changes in F2 male mice born to gestationally arsenite-exposed F1 mice. METHODS: Pregnant C3H/HeN mice (F0) were given free access to tap water (control mice) or tap water containing 85 ppm sodium arsenite from days 8 to 18 of gestation. Arsenite was not given to F1 or F2 mice. The F2 mice were generated by mating among control F1 males and females, and arsenite-F1 males and females at the age of 10 weeks. At 41 weeks and 74 weeks of age respectively, F2 males were used for the assessment of social behavior by a three-chamber social behavior apparatus. Histological features of the prefrontal cortex were studied by ordinary light microscope. Social behavior-related gene expressions were determined in the prefrontal cortex by real time RT-PCR method. RESULTS: The arsenite-F2 male mice showed significantly poor sociability and social novelty preference in both 41-week-old group and 74-week-old group. There was no significant histological difference between the control mice and the arsenite-F2 mice. Regarding gene expression, serotonin receptor 5B (5-HT 5B) mRNA expression was significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in the arsenite-F2 male mice compared to the control F2 male mice in both groups. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and dopamine receptor D1a (Drd1a) gene expressions were significantly decreased (p < 0.05) only in the arsenite-F2 male mice of the 74-week-old group. Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) gene expression was significantly increased (p < 0.001) in the arsenite-F2 male mice of both groups, but plasma 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) gene expression were not significantly different. Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) mRNA expression was significantly increased only in 41-week-old arsenite-F2 mice. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that maternal arsenic exposure affects social behavior in F2 male mice via serotonergic system in the prefrontal cortex. In this study, COX-2 were not increased although oxidative stress marker (HO-1) was increased significantly in arsnite-F2 male mice.
Animals ; Arsenic/toxicity* ; Arsenites/toxicity* ; Behavior, Animal/drug effects* ; Environmental Pollutants/toxicity* ; Female ; Gene Expression/drug effects* ; Genetic Markers ; Male ; Maternal Exposure/adverse effects* ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C3H ; Oxidative Stress/genetics* ; Prefrontal Cortex/drug effects* ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects/psychology* ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Serotonin/metabolism* ; Social Behavior ; Sodium Compounds/toxicity*