Frontiers in Neuroscience (Apr 2019)

Transcriptome Analysis on Maternal Separation Rats With Depression-Related Manifestations Ameliorated by Electroacupuncture

  • Yuanjia Zheng,
  • Jiang He,
  • Lili Guo,
  • Lin Yao,
  • Lin Yao,
  • Xiaorong Zheng,
  • Zhihua Yang,
  • Yucen Xia,
  • Xiaoli Wu,
  • Yang Su,
  • Nenggui Xu,
  • Yongjun Chen,
  • Yongjun Chen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00314
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

Read online

Maternal separation (MS), a stressful event in early life, has been linked to neuropsychiatric disorders later in life, especially depression. In this study we investigated whether treatment with electroacupuncture (EA) could ameliorate depression-related manifestations in adult animals that had adverse early life experiences. We demonstrated depression-like behavior deficiencies in a sucrose preference test and a forced swimming test in a rat model with neonatal MS. Repeated EA treatment at the acupoints Baihui (GV20) and Yintang (GV29) during adulthood was shown to be remarkably attenuated above behavioral deficits. Using unbiased genome-wide RNA sequencing to investigate alterations in the transcriptome of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), we explored the altered gene sets involved in circadian rhythm and neurotransmitter transporter activity in MS rats, and their expression tended to be reversed after EA treatment. In addition, we analyzed the interaction network of differentiated lncRNA– or circRNA–miRNA–mRNA by using the principle of competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA). These results suggest that EA at GV20 and GV29 ameliorates depression-related manifestations by regulating the expression of multiple genes.

Keywords