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Selected Publication:
Köfer, M.
Influence of immune stimulation on emotional-affective behaviour: an experimental study.
[ Diplomarbeit/Master Thesis ] Med Uni Graz; 2009. pp.54.
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- Authors Med Uni Graz:
- Köfer Martin Josef
- Advisor:
- Holzer Peter
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- Abstract:
- Abstract Background: Preclinical data and clinical experience indicate that immune stimulation, either by systemic administration of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or by cytokine therapy, elicits an acute sickness response and may give rise to long-term depression. The hypothesis has been put forward that systemic inflammation associated with elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines plays a role in the pathophysiology of depression. As it is known that people with major depression and/or chronic fatigue syndrome suffer under a proinflammatory condition, it was the aim of this experimental study to address the acute and long-term effects of LPS on emotional-affective behaviour. The specific questions under study were: a) Does LPS-induced immune stimulation cause prolonged depression? b) Is social context relevant to this effect? c) Is the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis involved? d) Are different mouse strains equally suited for behavioural testing? Methods: The questions under study were addressed by studying two mouse strains, CD1 and C57BL/6J. Anxiety-related and depression-like behaviour was estimated after immune stimulation by intraperitoneal administration of E. coli LPS or vehicle (VEH). The behavioural tests were carried out 1 day and 4 weeks post-treatment. Anxiety-like behaviour was assessed with the open field (OF) test while depression-like behaviour was examined with the forced swim test (FST). Results: The major results of this study can be summarized as follows: LPS affected anxiety-like behaviour and locomotion 1 day post-treatment in a strain related manner. LPS failed to cause a prolonged depression, and its effects on depression-like behaviour were variable. Group housing (social context) was able to inhibit the adverse effects of intervention on anxiety-like behaviour and the activation of the HPA axis measured by the plasma level of corticosterone. Conclusion: The data show that a) a social context (group housing) has a protective effect against the increase of anxiety-like behaviour following an acute intervention; b) this effect depends on the mouse strain; c) acute immune stimulation with LPS has variable effects on anxiety- and depression-like behaviour in the short and long term; d) systemic LPS does not seem to be the most appropriate model to study the influence of immune stimulation on anxiety and depression.