Faculty Bibliography

The learned helpless rat is considered to be one of the better animal models of depression. A genetically inbred strain with a high vulnerability to develop helplessness (LH), as well as a highly resistant strain (NLH) have both been developed. Since the brain peptide neuropeptide Y (NPY) is involved in the regulation of a number of behaviors known to be altered in clinical depression as well as in learned helplessness, we measured the relative level of NPY mRNA in the hippocampus and cortex of control Sprague Dawley (SD), LH and NLH rats. We find that NLH rats have approximately a 30-35% decrease in basal hippocampal NPY mRNA compared with SD and LH rats. By contrast, cortical NPY mRNA and hippocampal pre-proenkephalin and somatostatin mRNA levels were not significantly different in the 3 strains. The data suggest that the regulation of NPY gene expression may be involved in the reduced vulnerability of NLH rats to develop learned helplessness

It has been suggested that the therapeutic action of lithium in affective disorders may be due to its inhibition of signal transduction and second messenger synthesis, in particular of the phosphoinositide (PI) pathway. Yet, previous work in neuronal cell lines indicates that lithium has an enhancing effect on gene expression mediated by protein kinase C, which is activated by the PI pathway. In this report, we have analyzed the effect of lithium on two neuropeptide encoding genes that are regulated by second messenger systems; neuropeptide Y (NPY) and proenkephalin (Enk). We find that acute treatment with lithium, resulting in serum levels that are within the therapeutic range effective in patients with mood disorders, significantly enhances basal expression of the NPY gene in rat hippocampus. In contrast, no effect on Enk expression was detected. This selective effect in a limbic structure supports the hypothesis that gene expression may be an important target of lithium's therapeutic action

Lithium salts are considered the most effective agents used in treating manic-depression. Previous studies in PC12 pheochromocytoma cells indicate that lithium has a dramatic augmenting effect on expression of the fos proto-oncogene, a component of the AP-1 transcription factor. Although fos expression is activated by agonists that function through different signal transduction pathways, the lithium augmenting effect appears to be specific for receptor and post-receptor stimulators of protein kinase C (PKC). In particular, fos induction mediated by the m1 muscarinic receptor linked to PKC activation was found to be exquisitely sensitive to lithium enhancement. We now show that a similar augmenting effect can be demonstrated in rat brain. Following treatment with the muscarinic agonist pilocarpine, fos mRNA accumulates in the cortex, an effect that is blocked by the m1 antagonist pirenzepine. Rats treated with a single intraperitoneal injection of lithium chloride exhibited a substantial increase in pilocarpine-mediated fos expression. In contrast, fos expression induced in several brain regions by a single electroconvulsive shock is not augmented by lithium. The finding that short-term treatment with lithium enhances fos expression in the brain suggests a mechanism for its therapeutic action