Dynamic changes of behaviors, dentate gyrus neurogenesis and hippocampal miR-124 expression in rats with depression induced by chronic unpredictable mild stress

The depression-like behavior phenotype, neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus and miR-124 expression in the hippocampus are the focus of current research on the pathogenesis of depression and antidepressant therapy. The present study aimed to clarify the dynamic changes of depression-like behavior, dentate gyrus neurogenesis and hippocampal miR-124 expression during depression induced by chronic stress to reveal pathological features at different stages of depression and to further provide insight into depression treatment. Chronic unpredictable mild stress depression models were established by exposing Sprague-Dawley rats to various mild stressors, including white noise, thermal swimming, stroboscopic illumination, soiled cages, pairing with three other stressed animals, cold swimming, tail pinch, restraint and water and food deprivation. Chronic unpredictable mild stress model rats underwent dynamic observation from 1 to 8 weeks and were compared with a control group (normal feeding without any stressors). To observe changes in the depression-like behavior phenotype during chronic unpredictable mild stress-induced depression, a sucrose preference test was used to evaluate the degree of anhedonia. An open-field test was used to evaluate locomotor activity and anxiety status. Compared with the control group, chronic unpredictable mild stress rats lost weight but did not have a depression-like behavioral phenotype at 1-4 weeks. Chronic unpredictable mild stress rats presented decreased sucrose preference and locomotor activity at 5-8 weeks. In addition, chronic unpredictable mild stress rats did not have significant anxiety-like behavior during 1-8 weeks of modeling. To observe neurogenesis dysfunctions and changes in neuronal number in the dentate gyrus during chronic unpredictable mild stress-induced depression, markers (DCX and DCX/BrdU) of neural proliferation and differentiation and the neuronal marker NeuN were assessed by immunofluorescence. Compared with the control group, neurogenesis and the neuronal number in the dentate gyrus did not change from 2 to 6 weeks; however, neural proliferation and differentiation in the dentate gyrus decreased, and the number of neurons decreased until the eighth week in the chronic unpredictable mild stress group. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays and fluorescence in situ hybridization were used to measure the expression of hippocampal miR-124 during chronic unpredictable mild stress-induced depression. The results showed that the expression of hippocampal miR-124 was unchanged during the first 4 weeks but increased from 5 to 6 weeks and decreased from 7 to 8 weeks compared with the control group. These findings indicate that during chronic unpredictable mild stress-induced depression, the behavioral phenotype, miR-124 expression in the hippocampus, neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus and neuronal numbers showed dynamic changes, which suggested that various pathological changes occur at different stages of depression. All experimental procedures and protocols were approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine of China in March 2015.