chronic unpredictable stress

Chronic stress, a causal factor for depression, can also cause cognitive impairments and tau pathology. However, whether and how the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant escitalopram ameliorates these effects are still unclear. In the present study, rats were subjected to chronic mild unpredictable stress for 8 weeks. Following the initial 4 weeks, the stressed animals were separated into susceptible (depressive) and unsusceptible (resistant) groups based on behavioral tests. Then, escitalopram (10 mg/kg i...

Currently available antidepressant drugs often fail to achieve full remission and patients might evolve to treatment resistance, showing the need to achieve a better therapy of depressive disorders. Increasing evidence supports that post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression is important in neuronal development and survival and a relevant role is played by RNA binding proteins (RBP). To explore new therapeutic strategies, we investigated the role of the neuron-specific ELAV-like RBP (HuB, HuC, HuD) in a mouse model of depression...

Multi-target antidepressants selectively inhibiting monoaminergic transporters and 5-HT2A receptors have demonstrated higher efficacy and fewer side effects than selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). In the present study, we synthesized a series of novel 3-(benzo[d] [1, 3] dioxol-4-yloxy)-3-arylpropyl amine derivatives, among which H05 was identified as a lead compound with potent inhibition effects on both serotonin (Ki=4.81 nM) and norepinephrine (Ki=6.72 nM) transporters and moderate 5-HT2A antagonist activity (IC50=60...

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of oregano essential oil (OEO) on the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex TLR 2/4 gene expression and depressive like behavior induced by chronic unpredictable stress (CUS). Sucrose preference and forced swim tests were adopted to examine the antidepressant effect. Control (CON), OEO, CUS, and CUS + OEO groups were used. The OEO and CUS + OEO groups received OEO (0.2 mL/kg, i.p.), CON and CUS received saline (0.2 mL/kg, i.p.), and the positive drug groups of CUS rats received fluoxetine (10 mg/kg) and diazepam (3 mg/kg) once daily for 14 days...

BACKGROUND: Young adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at risk for chronic illness uncertainty in 4 domains: ambiguity about the state of their illness; lack of information about the disease, its treatment, and comorbidities; complexity of the healthcare system and relationship with healthcare providers; and unpredictability of the illness course and outcome. Chronic uncertainty has been associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)...

Often the manifestation of anxiety cannot be explained by known environmental or hereditary factors. With this perspective, it has been reported that prenatal stress may lead to emotional disturbances in the offspring. However, studies relating prenatal stress to anxiety are controversial and generally the stressors used do not mimicks the reality experienced by mothers. Thus, this investigation evaluated the effects of an unpredictable chronic stress scheme applied in one of the three gestational weeks of rats on the manifestation of generalized anxiety and panic disorder in the progeny (males), analyzing, respectively, the avoidances and escapes in the elevated T-maze, at the 1st, 3rd or 6th month of progeny life...

Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress response has been suggested to play a role in vulnerability to stress-related disorders, such as depression. Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) may result in HPA dysregulation, which in turn may predispose individuals to the effects of stress exposure throughout life, and increase their risk of developing depression compared to unexposed individuals. We examined the immediate and delayed effects of chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) in adulthood on behavior of PAE animals in the forced swim test (FST) and the neurocircuitry underlying behavioral, emotional, and stress regulation...

Depression is a common psychiatric disorder with heavy economic and social burdens. Searching new agents with better antidepressant-like activities is of great significance for depression therapy. Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), a clinical drug for gallstone treatment, possesses neuroprotective effects in different brain disorders. However, whether it affects depression remains unclear. We addressed this issue by evaluating the effect of TUDCA on depression induced by chronic unpredictable stress (CUS). Results showed that TUDCA treatment at 200 but not 100 mg/kg prevented the 5 weeks of CUS-induced increases in the immobile time of C57BL6/J mice in the experiments of forced swimming test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST) as well as the CUS-induced decrease in sucrose intake and crossing numbers in the open field test (OFT), and did not enhance the antidepressant-like effect of fluoxetine...

We investigated the effects of Apocynum venetum leaf extract (AVLE) on depressive behaviors and neuronal apoptosis in a chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) rat model of depression. Rats were randomly divided into six groups: control, chronic unpredictable mild stress, fluoxetine, AVLE30, AVLE60, and AVLE120. Except for the control group, all rats were submitted to chronic unpredictable mild stress paradigms for four weeks to induce depressive behavior. Neuronal apoptosis was assessed by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase- (TDT-) mediated dUTP-biotin nick end-labeling (TUNEL) method...

AIM: Here we evaluated any beneficial effects of a potential probiotic bacterial strain (Lactobacillus plantarum MTCC 9510) in two different stress paradigms in mice. METHODS AND RESULTS: L. plantarum MTCC 9510 (2×1010 CFU per mice) was supplemented to male Swiss albino mice either subjected to chronic unpredictable mild stress or sleep deprivation stress. Various behavioral and biochemical tests along with selected gut bacterial abundances were determined. L. plantarum MTCC 9510 supplementation prevented stress-induced behavioral despair (depression, anxiety, learning and memory, stereotypic behavior), oxidative stress markers, and inflammatory cytokines in brain and serum...

The study performed molecular docking, formulated, characterized thymoquinone (TQ) loaded solid lipid nano particles (TQSLN) and exhibited comparative antidepressant activity. TQ loaded nano lipid formulations were prepared by solvent injection methods and characterize for different in-vitro parameters. The optimized formulation was evaluated for depression using unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) model for a period of six weeks. TQSLN was assessed in modified forced swim test (MFST), tail suspension test (TST), locomotor activity followed by biochemical parameters such as monoaminesand brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)...

Evidence showed that the stress hormone corticosterone (CORT) injection resulted in dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis implicated in major depressive disorder. Magnolol, main constituent identified in the barks of Magnolia officinalis, exerted antidepressant effects in a rat model of depression induced by chronic unpredictable mild stress in previous studies. However, its antidepressant-like effects and mechanisms have never been studied in depression model induced by CORT administration in rodents...

Contagious depression is a phenomenon that is yet to be fully recognized and this stems from insufficient material on the subject. At the moment, there is no existing format for studying the mechanism of action, prevention, containment, and treatment of contagious depression. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to establish the first animal model of contagious depression. Healthy rats can contract depressive behaviors if exposed to depressed rats. Depression is induced in rats by subjecting them to several manipulations of chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) over 5 weeks, as described in the protocol...

Taking into account the rather frequent concomitance of nicotine abuse and stress, we aimed to research memory- and depression-related effects of nicotine administration in combination with chronic mild unpredictable stress (CMUS) in mice and an involvement of the endocannabinoid system through CB1 and CB2 receptors. Mice were submitted to the CMUS for 4 weeks. Effects on depression-like behaviors and cognition, exerted by a combined administration of CB1, i.e., Oleamide (2.5, 5.0 mg/kg), AM 251 (0.1, 0.25 mg/kg) and CB2, i...

Stressful life events are thought to be triggering factors of numerous neuropsychiatric disorders, including anxiety and depression. However, the interactions between chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) and immune stimulation have not been thoroughly investigated. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge at different time points on CUMS-induced anxiety- and depression-like behaviors. At 1 day before, 18 or 35 days following the initial of CUMS, mice were intraperitoneally given a single LPS (0...

Major depressive disorder has become one of the most serious neuropsychiatric disorders worldwide. However, currently available antidepressants used in clinical practice are ineffective for a substantial proportion of patients and always have side effects. Besides being a lipid-regulating agent, gemfibrozil is an agonist of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPAR-α). We investigated the antidepressant effects of gemfibrozil on C57BL/6J mice using the forced swim test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST), as well as the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model of depression...

The peculiar neurochemical profile of the adolescent brain renders it differently susceptible to several stimuli, including stress and/or drug exposure. Among several stress mediators, nitric oxide (NO) has a role in stress responses. We have demonstrated that adolescent mice are less sensitive to ethanol-induced sensitization than adult mice. The present study investigated whether chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) induces behavioral sensitization to ethanol in adolescent and adult Swiss mice, and investigated the influence of Ca2+ -dependent nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity in the phenomenon...

Repeated injections of cannabidiol (CBD), the major non-psychotomimetic compound present in the Cannabis sativa plant, attenuate the anxiogenic effects induced by Chronic Unpredictable Stress (CUS). The specific mechanisms remain to be fully understood but seem to involve adult hippocampal neurogenesis and recruitment of endocannabinoids. Here we investigated for the first time if the behavioral and pro-neurogenic effects of CBD administered concomitant the CUS procedure (14 days) are mediated by CB1 , CB2 or 5HT1A receptors, as well as CBD effects on dendritic remodeling and on intracellular/synaptic signaling (fatty acid amide hydrolase - FAAH, Akt, GSK3β and the synaptic proteins Synapsin Ia/b, mGluR1 and PSD95)...

Positive regulation of autophagy by Euryale ferox Salisb (ES) leads to antidepressant effects. This study focused on the potential antidepressant mechanisms induced by the petroleum ether fraction of ES (ES-PE) in the chronically unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) mouse model. Deficits in the sucrose preference test, open field test, tail suspension test, and forced swim test were observed following CUMS, and were reversed following ES-PE administration. Contrary to the expression of mammalian target of rapamycin, autophagy was decreased after establishment of the CUMS model...

Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) is one of the most powerful modes of analysis in liquid chromatographic tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for quantification of low-concentration metabolites in biological samples. The advances in mass spectrometry enabled the development of high-resolution multiple reaction monitoring (MRMHR ) and became suitable for the more specific analysis of target analytes. This is important for lipidomic studies and contributes in the medical and pharmaceutical fields, primarily in investigating alterations in cells or fluids relevant to various diseases...