Analysis of post-mortem tissue from patients with affective disorders has revealed a decreased number of glial cells in several brain areas. Here, we examined whether long-term psychosocial stress influences the number and morphology of hippocampal astrocytes in an animal model with high validity for research on the pathophysiology of major depression. Adult male tree shrews were submitted to 5 weeks of psychosocial stress, after which immunocytochemical and quantitative stereological techniques were used to estimate the total number and somal volume of glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytes in the hippocampal formation. Stress significantly decreased both the number (À25%) and somal volume (À25%) of astroglia, effects that correlated notably with the stress-induced hippocampal volume reduction. Additionally, we examined whether antidepressant treatment with fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, offered protection from these stress-induced effects. Animals were subjected to 7 days of psychosocial stress before the onset of daily oral administration of fluoxetine (15 mg/kg per day), with stress continued throughout the 28-day treatment period. Fluoxetine treatment prevented the stress-induced numerical decrease of astrocytes, but had no counteracting effect on somal volume shrinkage. In nonstressed animals, fluoxetine treatment had no effect on the number of astrocytes, but stress exposure significantly reduced their somal volumes (À20%). These notable changes of astroglial structural plasticity in response to stress and antidepressant treatment support the notion that glial changes may contribute to the pathophysiology of affective disorders as well as to the cellular actions of antidepressants.

No abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that stress may affect the hippocampal GABAergic system. Here, we examined whether long-term psychosocial stress influenced the number of parvalbumin-containing GABAergic cells, known to provide the most powerful inhibitory input to the perisomatic region of principal cells. Adult male tree shrews were submitted to 5 weeks of stress, after which immunocytochemical and quantitative stereological techniques were used to estimate the total number of hippocampal parvalbuminimmunoreactive (PV-IR) neurons. Stress significantly decreased the number of PV-IR cells in the dentate gyrus (DG) (À33%), CA2 (À28%), and CA3 (À29%), whereas the CA1 was not affected. Additionally, we examined whether antidepressant treatment offered protection from this stress-induced effect. We administered fluoxetine (15 mg/kg per day) and SLV-323 (20 mg/kg per day), a novel neurokinin 1 receptor (NK 1 R) antagonist, because the NK 1 R has been proposed as a possible target for novel antidepressant therapies. Animals were subjected to a 7-day period of psychosocial stress before the onset of daily oral administration of the drugs, with stress continued throughout the 28-day treatment period. NK 1 R antagonist administration completely prevented the stress-induced reduction of the number of PV-IR interneurons, whereas fluoxetine attenuated this decrement in the DG, without affecting the CA2 and CA3. The effect of stress on interneuron numbers may reflect real cell loss; alternatively, parvalbumin concentration is diminished in the neurons, which might indicate a compensatory attempt. In either case, antidepressant treatment offered protection from the effect of stress and appears to modulate the hippocampal GABAergic system. Furthermore, the NK 1 R antagonist SLV-323 showed neurobiological efficacy similar to that of fluoxetine.

No abstract