Study of social defeat stress effects on nociceptive behavior in mice and neurobiological mechanisms associated

• Grant number: 13/09749-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: November 01, 2013
• End date: March 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - General Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Amilcar Parada
• Grantee: Marco Oreste Finocchio Pagliusi Junior
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Despite the pain is not one of the symptoms of depression, epidemiological studies indicate a close association between depressive disorder and chronic pain. This is evidenced by the clinical observation that patients with depression have high prevalence of chronic pain and, at the same time, patients suffering from chronic pain are also often diagnosed with depressive disorders. Several clinical and biological characteristics are shared between pain and depression, and various neuroanatomical structures, neural circuits and neurotransmitter systems exhibit similar changes in those two conditions. In chronic diseases, is commonly observed an interaction between genetic predisposition and environmental events, determining its development. Among the environmental events, chronic stress appears to be a crucial factor for the development of depression. In fact, there are episodes of depression that occur in the context of some form of stress. Accordingly, most of the experimental models to induce depressive-like behavior in rodents employ some form of stress. It was recently developed the Social Defeat Stress model, in which mice are exposed to another mouse from a strain more aggressive and more physically robust, experiencing brief periods of physical aggression followed by longer periods of sensory contact. Thus, the social defeat reproduces the social conditions typically observed in human relationships. The defeated mice display a number of physiological and behavioral characteristics of depression; however there is no data regarding the pain sensibility in such animals. Chronic stress can cause neuroplastic changes in certain brain structures such as the Mesolimbic Dopamine System (MDS) which is composed by the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) and Nucleus Accumbens (NAc), which receives the dopaminergic projections from VTA. Recent evidence indicates a role played by the MDS in the modulation of behavioral changes observed in both chronic pain and depression. So, these two conditions may share similar mechanisms of neuroplasticity in MDS, involving the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and dopaminergic neurotransmission. Thus, this study aims investigate the behavioral response to noxious stimulation in mice submitted to the Social Defeat Stress model, which demonstrably produces depressive-like behaviors, as well as analyze possible neuroplastic changes at the molecular level in the Nucleus Accumbens of these animals. (AU)

Scientific publications

(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)

PAGLIUSI JR, MARCO; BRANDAO, ARTHUR F.; ZANETTI, GABRIEL G.; BONET, IVAN J. M.; SARTORI, CESAR R.; VIEIRA, ANDRE S.. Using the Parafilm-assisted Microdissection (PAM) Method to Sample Rodent Nucleus Accumbens. BIO-PROTOCOL, v. 10, n. 23, DEC 5 2020. (13/09749-4, 15/26777-7)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

PAGLIUSI JUNIOR, Marco Oreste Finocchio. Study of social defeat stress effect on nociceptive behavior in mice and neurobiological mechanisms associated. 2016. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia Campinas, SP.