Depressive-like behaviour in neuropathic pain is associated with decreased glial and neuronal cells in the prefrontal cortex of the rat
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1
University of Minho, Life and Health Sciences Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, Portugal
Depression is commonly observed in patients with chronic pain. Pain can be divided into a sensitive and emotional component processed by different neural circuitries; the emotional component is largely modulated by the structures within the limbic system. The consolidation of pain-related aversive behaviours is attributed to the anterior cingulated cortex, where it has been showed that decreased glial cell density is associated with the development of depressive-like behaviour in stressed animals. Our aim was to investigate the possibility of an association between alterations in cell density in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and depressive-like behaviour in neuropathic rats. One and two months after inducing spared nerve injury (SNI), neuropathic animals were tested for the presence of depressive-like behaviour (forced-swimming test) and evaluation of locomotor activity (open field test). Stereological analysis of the PFC considered three major areas, the cingulated I (CgI), the pre-limbic (PrL) and the infralimbic (IL) cortices, which were subdivided in three cortical areas, for quantification. The development of depressive-like behaviour was paralleled by a decrease in the number of glial cells in layer II (external granular layer) of the CgI, PrL and IL. Moreover there was a specific decrease in neurone numbers in IL layer II. These data indicate that alterations of glial and neuronal cell content in the PFC contribute to the development of depressive-like behaviour.
Conference:
11th Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience, Braga, Portugal, 4 Jun - 6 Jun, 2009.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Abstracts
Citation:
Cardoso
V,
Pinto-Ribeiro
F,
Sousa
N,
Cerqueira
J and
Almeida
A
(2009). Depressive-like behaviour in neuropathic pain is associated with decreased glial and neuronal cells in the prefrontal cortex of the rat.
Front. Neurosci.
Conference Abstract:
11th Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience.
doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.01.2009.11.138
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Received:
11 Aug 2009;
Published Online:
11 Aug 2009.
*
Correspondence:
Nuno Sousa, University of Minho, Life and Health Sciences Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, Braga, Portugal, njcsousa@med.uminho.pt