Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 8, 1951-1961, Copyright © 1988 by Society for Neuroscience
Cerebral correlates of depressed behavior in rats, visualized using 14C- 2-deoxyglucose autoradiography
S Caldecott-Hazard, J Mazziotta and M Phelps
Department of Radiology, University of California, Los Angeles 90024.
14C-2-Deoxyglucose (2DG) was used to investigate changes in the rate of
cerebral metabolism in 3 rat models of depressed behavior. The models had
already been established in the literature and were induced by injections
of alpha-methyl-para-tyrosine, withdrawal from chronic amphetamine, or
stress. We verified that exploratory behaviors were depressed in each model
and that an antidepressant drug, tranylcypromine, prevented the depressed
behavior in each model. 2DG studies revealed that the rate of regional
glucose metabolism was elevated bilaterally in the lateral habenula of each
of the 3 models. Regional metabolic rates were reduced in each model in the
dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, anterior ventral nucleus of the thalamus,
and inferior colliculus. Forebrain global metabolic rates were also reduced
in each of the models. Tranylcypromine prevented the elevated rate of
lateral habenula metabolism seen in each of the models alone but did not
significantly affect the rates of global metabolism. Our findings of
identical metabolic changes in each of the models indicate that these
changes are not idiosyncratic to a particular model; rather, they correlate
with a generalizable state of depressed exploratory behavior in rats.
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