Abstract
Depression is more prevalent among adolescents than adults, but the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Using a subthreshold chronic stress model, here we show that developmentally regulated expressions of the perineuronal nets (PNNs), and one of the components, Neurocan in the prelimbic cortex (PrL) are important for the vulnerability to stress and depressive-like behaviors in both adolescent and adult rats. Reduction of PNNs or Neurocan with pharmacological or viral methods to mimic the expression of PNNs in the PrL during adolescence compromised resilience to stress in adult rats, while virally mediated overexpression of Neurocan reversed vulnerability to stress in adolescent rats. Ketamine, a recent-approved drug for treatment-resistant depression rescued impaired function of Parvalbumin-positive neurons function, increased expression of PNNs in the PrL, and reversed depressive-like behaviors in adolescent rats. Furthermore, we show that Neurocan mediates the anti-depressant effect of ketamine, virally mediated reduction of Neurocan in the PrL abolished the anti-depressant effect of ketamine in adolescent rats. Our findings show an important role of Neurocan in depression in adolescence, and suggest a novel mechanism for the anti-depressant effect of ketamine.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by National Key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFA0706201, 2019YFC0118604, 2021ZD0202900, and 2017YFC0803608), National Basic Research Program of China (2015CB553503), National Natural Science Foundation of China (32170960, U180220091, 31571099, 81821092, 31741060, and 91732109), and Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission (Z181100001518005 and Z161100002616006).
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WZ, LL, and JS conceived and designed the experiments. ZY, DH, NC, ZZ, YH, WC, and WZ performed the experiments. ZY, DH, ZZ, and WZ analyzed and interpreted the data. WZ, LL, JS, YH, XY, SM, and ZY wrote the manuscript.
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Yu, Z., Han, Y., Hu, D. et al. Neurocan regulates vulnerability to stress and the anti-depressant effect of ketamine in adolescent rats. Mol Psychiatry 27, 2522–2532 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01495-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01495-w
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