Autophagy and PTEN expression in hippocampal neurons of depressed rats / 中风与神经疾病杂志

ABSTRACT

@#Objective　To observe whether there is abnormal expression of PTEN in hippocampal neurons of depressed rats and explore the correlation between its expression and autophagy. Methods　50 healthy adult male SD rats were randomly divided into control group and model group：25 rats in each group. A depressive rat model was established by chronic unforeseeable mild stress（CUMS）. Behavioral tests such as open field，water maze，shuttle box，tail suspension and sugar water preference were used to detect the depression of rats. Hippocampal tissue was taken 0.5，1，3，7，and 14 days after molding. Immunohistofluorescence，Weston blot and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR were used to detect the expression changes of hippocampal autophagy related proteins LC3，Beclin1 and tumor suppressive gene PTEN. Results　In the model group，the rats showed lack of curiosity，impaired spatial learning and memory，behavioral hopelessness and anhedonia（P<0.01）. LC3 and Beclin1，two autophagy-related proteins，were co-expressed in the model group，in which LC3 was co-expressed with PTEN protein. The expression of LC3，Beclin1 and PTEN in the hippocampus of the depression model group was higher than that of the control group（P<0.05），and increased with time. The expression of two kinds of autophagy-related genes and PTEN gene in the depression model group was higher than that in the control group（P<0.01）. Conclusion　Abnormal PTEN expression exists in hippocampal neurons of depressed rats，which is related to autophagy.