Time-Dependent Trajectory of Behavioural Emotionality in the Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress Rodent Model of Depression
Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a severe mental illness. Translational animal models of the human pathophysiology are limited. Sex and genetic differences contribute to the risk for developing MDD. Further, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies describe volumetric changes in limbic regions in MDD patients and preclinical studies have attributed these to synaptic changes. However, a link between these features has yet to be determined. To help bridge this gap, behavioural, volumetric and synaptic changes were investigated in mice exposed to unpredictable chronic mild stress. Using a novel paradigm, behavioural emotionality was detected repeatedly across sex and strain (Balb/c and C57Bl/6) and was comparable to classical tests. Behavioural emotionality in male Balb/c mice negatively correlated with MRI amygdalar volumes and was associated with an increase in the postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) marker. Altogether these results provided a translational perspective on the biological mechanisms involved in MDD.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Keith A. Misquitta
Language: English
Subfield: Behavioral Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Strong
OpenAlex ID: W2613192540