Light deprivation damages monoamine neurons and produces a depressive behavioral phenotype in rats

Gonzalez et al. 10.1073/pnas.0703615105.

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Fig. 5. Representative photomicrographs showing cleaved PARP staining through the rostral VTA of a light-deprived rat (dark-dark) and a control (light-dark) subject. Double immunostaining using an antibody against the p85 fragment of PARP (red) and an antibody against TH (green) revealed that light deprivation increased apoptosis in the DA-VTA system; arrowheads indicate the apoptotic response. (Inset) Schematic showing the area used for analysis; adapted from the atlas of Swanson (1). Numbers indicate distance in millimeters from bregma. EW, Edinger-Westphal nucleus; IF, interfascicular nucleus raphe; fr, fasciculus retroflexus; RN, red nucleus; SNc, substantia nigra, compact part; VTA, ventral tegmental area. Coronal sections, 20-mm thickness, medial is to the left, dorsal is upward.

1. Swanson LW (1992) Brain Maps: Structure of the Rat Brain (Elsevier, Amsterdam), pp 38.





Fig. 6. Representative photomicrographs showing cleaved PARP staining through the rostral dorsal (Upper) and median (Lower) raphe nuclei of a light-deprived (dark-dark) rat and a control (light-dark) subject. Double immunostaining using an antibody against the p85 fragment of PARP (red) and an antibody against 5-HT (green) revealed that light deprivation increased apoptosis in 5-HT neurons. Regions of overlap give rise to a yellow signal; arrowheads indicate the apoptotic response. Aq, aqueduct (Sylvius). Coronal sections, 20-mm thickness, midline at center, dorsal is upward.





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A group of animals kept in DD (0 lux) conditions for 6 weeks was subsequently treated with desipramine for 24 days in drinking water (~20 or 30 mg/kg in tap water, along with 0.02% saccharin to increase palatability). A placebo-controlled group of DD animals was continuously treated with tap water instead. The dose of antidepressant was recalculated for each animal for 3 days based on liquid intake and body weight. The daily total mean concentration of desipramine consumed was 19 ± 1 mg/kg per day. At the end of this treatment period, control and desipramine-treated rats were individually submitted to a 5' FST to evaluate behavioral symptoms of depression. The FST occurred in darkness between 1600 and 1900 h, as described in Materials and Methods for DD rats. Immediately afterward, animals were perfused, each brain was frozen and cut in coronal sections, and the mid-LC was processed for immunohistochemistry as described for DD rats.

This Article

  1. Published online before print March 17, 2008, doi: 10.1073/pnas.0703615105 PNAS March 25, 2008 vol. 105 no. 12 4898-4903
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