ABSTRACT: Objective: To elucidate the potential effects of stressful factors for depression on the hippocampal, frontal cortex and pituitary gland genome-wide transcriptomes at the molecular level, we evaluated the transcriptomic profiles of depression rats under chronic restraint stress (CRS). Methods: Forty-eight rats were randomly divided into control, model, fluoxetine and acupuncture groups. Experimental period was 28 days. Open-field test, Sucrose preference and body weight were investigated respectively at the experiment before and after the experiment. The experiment having been finished, solexa sequencing technology (Illumina Nextseq 500/151nt) was applied to investigate and verify the altered hippocampal, frontal cortex and pituitary gland genome-wide transcriptome analysis in rats of all groups. Results: Based on the data from RNA-seq analysis, it revealed that compared the expression of genes in the control group with model group in the respective of three brain tissues, 101, 134, 148 differential expression genes were found in the hippocampus, frontal cortex and pituitary gland, respectively; compared the expression of genes in the fluoxetine group with model group in the respective of three brain tissues, 41, 46, 87 differential expression genes were found in the hippocampus, frontal cortex and pituitary gland, respectively; compared the expression of genes in the acupuncture group with model group in the respective of three brain tissues, 107, 89, 179 differential expression genes were found in the hippocampus, frontal cortex and pituitary gland, respectively. Furthermore, we used the GO (Gene ontology) analysis and KEGG (Kyo-To conservation of Genes and Genomes) pathway analysis for these differentially expressed genes. We found that the results of these two analyses were consistent, both mainly related to monoamine neurotransmitters, inflammation and immune response in control group VS model group. It is noted that this phenomenon also appears in fluoxetine group compared with model group, acupuncture group VS model group. Importantly, the antidepressant effect of acupuncture was more extensive, which was more consistent with the pathogenesis of depression induced by CRS in rats. Conclusions: Our study represents the first detailed analysis of the hippocampal, frontal cortex and pituitary gland genome-wide transcriptomes in depression rats under CRS by RNA-seq technology. The results of this study revealed multiple DEGs and possible mechanisms specifying the function of hippocampal, frontal cortex and pituitary gland in depression rats induced by CRS. These results provide a basis for further investigation of the signaling mechanisms that affect central nervous system output related to stress-sensitive depressive disorder development.
