Pathological mechanisms of brain-derived neurotrophic factor-mediated post-stroke depression
Objective To explore the neuroprotective effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF)on post-stroke depression(PSD).Methods Ischemic stroke mouse model was established using middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO)on C57BL/6J mice.Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)was used to detect the cerebral area of the rats in vivo.Mice with depression were selected as PSD models by the behavioral evaluation of sucrose preference test(SPT)and open-field test(OFT).Terminal-deoxynu-cleotidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling(TUNEL)staining and FJ-C staining were performed in control group,MCAO group and PSD group to observe apoptosis or degeneration of neurons in different brain regions.Western blotting was used to detect the expression of BDNF protein in control group,MCAO group,depression group and PSD group.Results MRI was performed 7 days after MCAO modeling.The results showed different degrees of cerebral edema in cortex,hippocampus and striatum,and FJ-C staining showed positive green marked degenerative cells in different brain areas.There were no positive labeled cells in the control group,and apoptotic cells with TUNEL red labeling positive and FJ-C green labeling positive were found in both the MCAO group and the PSD group.Meanwhile,the number of apoptotic and degenerated neurons in the PSD group was significantly increased as compared with the MCAO group,espe-cially in the hippocampus.The expression of BDNF protein in PSD group was significantly lower than that in the MCAO group(unpaired t-test,t=2.898,P<0.01).Conclusion The expression of BDNF is de-creased in PSD,which further affects hippocampal neurodevelopment and synaptic plasticity.