Effects of sleep deprivation on behaviors and abnormal hippocampal BDNF/miR-10B expression in rats with chronic stress depression.

Being sleep-deprived can relieve the depressed emotions in rats, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. In this study, male rats were divided into 3 groups: normal control (NC), chronicunpredictable stress (CUPS) and sleep-deprived (SD). All of the groups were examined using the sucrose consumption test and the open field test. The sucrose consumption test and the open field test were performed for all three groups. The BDNF and miR-10B expressions were examined using real-time PCR and the level of BNDF was discovered by western blotting. In the sucrose consumption test and the open field test, the CUPS rats consumed less sucrose and got fewer score than the NC rats, however the SD rats consumed significantly more sucrose and received higher scores than the CUPS rats. Both the expression of BNDF and the protein levels in the CUPS group was significantly lower than in the NC group. Also, the CUPS group also showed a higher miR-10B expression than the NC group. However, the SD group demonstrated higher BDNF expression and lower miR-10B expression when compared with the CUPS group. Further investigation demonstrated that the BDNF is the direct target gene of miR-10B and BDNF expression, which is negatively correlated with the expression of miR-10B. In the sucrose consumption test, BNDF expression is positively correlated with the sucrose preference rate whereas miR-10B has an opposing correlation. Moreover, the open field test demonstrated that BNDF expression is positively correlated with the scores and the miR-10B expression is negatively correlated. These results indicate that sleep deprivation is closely linked with the downregulation of miR-10B and possibly the upregulation of BDNF in the hippocampus in the CUPS rats.