Quantitative immunohistochemical studies of changes in the expression of the neurotrophin BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) in the hippocampus and neocortex were performed in 24 male Wistar rats as they developed a poststress anxiety state in an experimental model of post-traumatic stress disorder and during correction of this condition by hypoxic postconditioning (PostC). The anxiety state was induced by combined psychoemotional stress (restraint stress, forced swimming, ether stress, and, after seven days, repeated restraint, i.e., restress). Correction of the anxiety state in the rats was with hypoxic postconditioning – three sessions of moderate hypobaric hypoxia (360 mmHg, 2 h). Formation of the anxiety state was accompanied by a significant reduction in the content of immunoreactive BDNF in the dorsal (CA1) and ventral (dentate gyrus) hippocampus and the neocortex, while hypoxic PostC led to partial (hippocampus) and complete (neocortex) restoration of BDNF expression. The results provided evidence that neurotrophic factors, particularly BDNF, appear to play an important role in the pathogenesis of anxious-depressive disorders and the realization of the proadaptive and neuroprotective actions of hypoxic PostC.
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Translated from Morfologiya, Vol. 146, No. 5, pp. 14–18, September–October, 2014.
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Zen’ko, M.Y., Rybnikova, E.A. & Glushchenko, T.S. Expression of the Neurotrophin BDNF in the Hippocampus and Neocortex in Rats during Formation of a Poststress Anxiety State and Its Correction by Hypoxic Postconditioning. Neurosci Behav Physi 45, 869–872 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-015-0157-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-015-0157-x