ABSTRACT
Perinatal development represents a critical period in the life of an individual. A common cause of poor development is that which comes from undernutrition or malnutrition. In particular, protein deprivation during development has been shown to have deep deleterious effects on brain's growth and plasticity. Early-life stress has also been linked with an increased risk to develop different psychopathologies later in life. We have previously shown that perinatal protein malnutrition in mice leads to the appearance of anxiety-related behaviors in the adulthood. We also found evidence that the female offspring was more susceptible to the development of depression-related behaviors. In the present work, we further investigated this behavior together with its molecular bases. We focused our study on the hippocampus, as it is a structure involved in coping with stressful situations. We found an increase in immobility time in the forced swimming test in perinatally malnourished females, and an alteration in the expression of genes related with neuroplasticity, early growth response 1, calcineurin and c-fos. We also found that perinatal malnutrition causes a reduction in the number of neurons in the hippocampus. This reduction, together with altered gene expression, could be related to the increment in immobility time observed in the forced swimming test.
Subject(s)
Depression/genetics , Hippocampus/physiopathology , Protein-Energy Malnutrition/genetics , Adaptation, Psychological/physiology , Animals , Anxiety/genetics , Anxiety/metabolism , Anxiety/physiopathology , Anxiety/psychology , Behavior, Animal/physiology , Depression/metabolism , Depression/physiopathology , Depression/psychology , Depressive Disorder/genetics , Depressive Disorder/metabolism , Depressive Disorder/physiopathology , Depressive Disorder/psychology , Disease Models, Animal , Female , Gene Expression , Hippocampus/metabolism , Male , Mice , Neuronal Plasticity/physiology , Pregnancy , Protein-Energy Malnutrition/metabolism , Protein-Energy Malnutrition/psychology , Stress, Psychological/genetics , Stress, Psychological/metabolism , Stress, Psychological/physiopathologyABSTRACT
Galectins control cell behavior by acting on different signaling pathways. Most of the biological activities ascribed to these molecules rely upon recognition of extracellular glycoconjugates and establishment of multivalente interactions, which trigger adaptive biological responses. However, galectins are also detected within the cell in different compartments, where their regulatory functions still remain poorly understood. A deeper understanding of the entire galectin signalosome and its impact in cell behavior is therefore essential in order to delineate new strategies to specifically manipulate both galectin expression and function. This review summarizes our current knowledge of the signaling pathways activated by galectins, their glycan dependence and the cellular compartment where they become activated and are biologically relevant.
