AbstractP2×7 and P2×4 receptors (P2×7R and P2×4R, respectively) are ligand-gated ion channels activated by adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which have been associated to dysfunctional processes in stress responses linked to depression, such as neurotransmitter release, cognition, sleep, energy, appetite, immune and endocrine dysfunction. Clinical studies indicate that polymorphisms in the P2×7r gene results in increased susceptibility for development of depression. Existing studies have investigated the role of P2×7R and P2×4R in animal models based on stress exposure. Therefore, the present work aimed to investigate the transcript and protein levels of these receptors in a genetic animal model of depression, the Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) and its control group, the Flinders Resistant Line (FRL) rats. We found that FSL rats have increased transcript levels of P2×7R and P2×4R in frontal cortex (FC), ventral and dorsal hippocampus (vHip and dHip, respectively) compared to FRL rats. There were no alterations in the protein levels in the FC and dHip, but the P2×7R was lower in FSL than in FRL rats in the vHip. The results suggest that increased transcripts levels of P2×7r and P2×4r in the FSL rats may contribute to the stress-susceptibility observed in these animals.
Neuropeptide S alters anxiety, but not depression-like behaviour in Flinders Sensitive Line rats: a genetic animal model of depression