Changes in apoptotic factors in hypothalamus and hippocampus after acute and subchronic stress induction during conditioned place preference paradigm

Authors

  • Abbas Haghparast Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Iran National Science Foundation, Tehran, Iran; Neurobiology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  • Zahra Fatahi Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  • Shabnam Zeighamy Alamdary Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  • Fariba Khodagholi Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Keywords:

apoptosis, hypothalamus, hippocampus, forced swim stress, conditioned place preference, rat

Abstract

The hypothalamus (HYP) and hippocampus (HIP) are important regions involved in stress responses. These areas are also associated with reward processing. In this study, the effects of acute and subchronic stress on the changes in apoptotic factors (Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, caspase-3 activation and PARP degradation) in the HYP and HIP during conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm were evaluated. Male Wistar rats were divided into two saline- and morphine-treated supergroups. Each supergroup contained control, acute stress (AS) and subchronic stress (SS) groups. In all groups, CPP paradigm was done and thereinafter alterations of apoptotic factors were measured by western blot. The results revealed that in the HYP, all mentioned factors increased significantly in saline- or morphine-treated animals during AS and SS. On the other hand, in the HIP, Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in saline-treated animals increased significantly during AS and SS, while in morphine-treated animals this ratio did not have any significant alteration during AS and was decreased during SS compared with morphine-control group. Caspase-3 and PARP increased during AS and SS in saline- or morphine-treated animals. For example, caspase-3 increased during AS and SS in morphine-treated animals by 2.4 folds and PARP (89 KDa) increased by 3.1 and 3.5 folds, respectively. Interestingly, the increase of apoptotic factors in morphine-treated animals was more considerable than that of saline-treated animals. These results strongly implied that AS and SS trigger apoptotic events in the HYP and HIP of saline- and/or morphine-treated animals as well as morphine reinforces the effect of stress on the induction of apoptosis.

Downloads

Published

2013-12-04

How to Cite

Haghparast, A., Fatahi, Z., Alamdary, S. Z., & Khodagholi, F. (2013). Changes in apoptotic factors in hypothalamus and hippocampus after acute and subchronic stress induction during conditioned place preference paradigm . EXCLI Journal, 12, 1001–1016. Retrieved from https://excli.de/excli/article/view/1211

Issue

Vol. 12 (2013)

Section

Original articles

License

Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:

  • The authors keep the copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license, CC BY 4.0. This licencse permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.
  • The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations.
  • Because the advice and information in this journal are believed to be true and accurate at the time of publication, neither the authors, the editors, nor the publisher accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions presented in the publication. The publisher makes no guarantee, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
  • The authors can enter into additional contracts for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version by citing the initial publication in this journal (e.g. publishing in an institutional repository or in a book).