Hormonal profile, response to stress and anxiety assessment in an animal model of perimenopause.

• Grant number: 14/09772-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: November 01, 2015 - December 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: Janete Aparecida Anselmo Franci
• Grantee: Janete Aparecida Anselmo Franci
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia de Ribeirão Preto (FORP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Christie Ramos Andrade Leite Panissi ; Marcus Lira Brandão

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of mood disorders in women, the vast majority of studies in animal models is developed in males (Zucker & Beery, 2010). The prevalence of depression in women is 21% and in men 13% (Kessler et al., 1993), suggesting the involvement of sex hormones in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. After puberty, when the monthly fluctuations in the concentrations of ovarian hormones begin to occur, there is an increased prevalence of depression in women. This difference remains from puberty to perimenopause (transition from reproductive life to menopause) when the risk of depression is highest (Smith et al, 2004), and tend to disappear after menopause when the incidence of depression is again similar to man (Deecher et al., 2008, Bebbington et al., 2003). In perimenopause, there is also a significant increase in the level of distress in women, who respond more strongly to aversive stimuli, exhibit a higher degree of tension, intense mood swings, irritability, and feeling of be "out of control" (McVeigh, 2005). Most studies that investigate perimenopause / menopause use the model of "surgical menopause" in which ovariectomy produces an abrupt decrease of sex hormones and is characterized by complete absence of ovarian tissue. The model of menopause induced by 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide of (VCD) mimics the transition to menopause in women as it shows a progressive decrease in the number of ovarian follicles and gradual increase in FSH secretion (Hoyer et al., 2001, Mayer et al., 2002; Acosta et al., 2009) and retains residual ovarian tissue. However, very little is known about hormonal fluctuations, particularly of ovarian steroids in this animal model, as well as about the endocrine and behavioral responses of animals to stressful stimuli. In this study, these issues will be addressed in order to better characterize this experimental model of perimenopause / menopause to facilitate future studies that seek to understand the mood disorders typical of this period of life in women. Experiments will be carried out to study, in rats in perimenopause: 1) the time course of hormonal variations 70-100 days after initiation of treatment with VCD, 2) the profile of secretion of reproductive hormones in different phases of the estrous cycle, 3) the anxiety behavior in periods of low concentrations of sex hormones, 4) the endocrine responses to stress, 5) the serotonergic system activity in areas involved with the anxiety behavior and 6) the density of ²-endorphin fibers in the locus coeruleus, which are known to modulate these responses and to be influenced by ovarian steroids. (AU)

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ARIKAWE, ADESINA PAUL; RORATO, RODRIGO CESAR; GOMES, NATHALI; ELIAS, LUCILA LEICO; ANSELMO-FRANCI, JANETE. Hormonal and neural responses to restraint stress in an animal model of perimenopause in female rats. Journal of Neuroendocrinology, v. 33, n. 5, MAY 2021. (12/51176-9, 14/09772-9)

ROSSIGNOLI, MATHEUS TEIXEIRA; LOPES-AGUIAR, CLEITON; RUGGIERO, RAFAEL NAIME; DO VAL DA SILVA, RAQUEL ARAUJO; BUENO-JUNIOR, LEZIO SOARES; KANDRATAVICIUS, LUDMYLA; PEIXOTO-SANTOS, JOSE EDUARDO; CRIPPA, JOSE ALEXANDRE; CECILIO HALLAK, JAIME EDUARDO; ZUARDI, ANTONIO WALDO; et al. SELECTIVE POST-TRAINING TIME WINDOW FOR MEMORY CONSOLIDATION INTERFERENCE OF CANNABIDIOL INTO THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX: REDUCED DOPAMINERGIC MODULATION AND IMMEDIATE GENE EXPRESSION IN LIMBIC CIRCUITS. Neuroscience, v. 350, p. 85-93, MAY 14 2017. (12/23918-0, 15/20840-9, 16/17882-4, 14/09772-9)

PESTANA-OLIVEIRA, NAYARA; KALIL, BRUNA; LEITE, CRISTIANE MOTA; GOMES CAROLINO, RUITHER OLIVEIRA; DEBARBA, LUCAS KNIESS; KAGOHARA ELIAS, LUCILA LEICO; ANTUNES-RODRIGUES, JOSE; ANSELMO-FRANCI, JANETE A.. Effects of Estrogen Therapy on the Serotonergic System in an Animal Model of Perimenopause Induced by 4-Vinylcyclohexen Diepoxide (VCD). ENEURO, v. 5, n. 1, JAN-FEB 2018. (14/09772-9)

RODRIGUES-SANTOS, ISABELLE; KALIL-CUTTI, BRUNA; ANSELMO-FRANCI, JANETE APARECIDA. Low Corticosterone Response to Stress in a Perimenopausal Rat Model Is Associated with the Hypoactivation of PaMP Region of the Paraventricular Nucleus and Can Be Corrected by Exogenous Progesterone Supplementation. Neuroendocrinology, JUL 2021. (14/09772-9)