Molecular profiling in the Habenula of Rat Chronic Restaint Stress Model

Chronic stressful situations contribute to the risk of developing depression. Using Genome-wide gene expression analysis, we analyzed the habenula transcriptome of rats exposed to chronic restraint stress for 14 days. We selected 379 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) affected by chronic stress. From 379 DEGs, neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, cAMP signaling pathway, circadian entrainment and synaptic signaling on Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis, response to corticosteroid, positive regulation of lipid transport, anterograde trans-synaptic signaling, chemical synapse transmission on Gene Ontology (GO) pathway analysis was identified as significantly enriched pathways. We made a protein-protein interaction network of DEGs and analyzed subclusters, and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, circadian entrainment, and cholinergic synapse-related clusters were identified. To validate the findings, quantitative RT-PCR was done for significant genes. Identified DEGs and pathways could be important factors modulating habenular response to stress and lead to behavioral change. These data identify key molecular targets involved in chronic stress-induced depression within habenula and provides a valuable resource for future study. We randomly assigned male Sprague-Dawley rats into chronic stress and non-stress group. After 14 days of chronic restraint stress on stress group habenula tissues were dissected from 4 rats in each group and the whole-genome transcriptome was examined.