1. Motor, mood, and memory impairments persist during remission periods in chronic colitis and are influenced by neuroinflammation and sex.
- Author
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Sotelo-Parrilla G, Ruiz-Calero A, García-Miranda P, Calonge ML, Vázquez-Carretero MD, and Peral MJ
- Subjects
- Animals, Male, Female, Rats, Memory Disorders etiology, Colitis chemically induced, Colitis metabolism, Colitis pathology, Anxiety, Chronic Disease, Depression metabolism, Depression etiology, Dextran Sulfate toxicity, Hippocampus metabolism, Hippocampus pathology, Rats, Wistar, Affect, Inflammation metabolism, Colitis, Ulcerative metabolism, Colitis, Ulcerative psychology, Sex Factors, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha metabolism, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha genetics, Sex Characteristics, Neuroinflammatory Diseases metabolism, Neuroinflammatory Diseases etiology
- Abstract
Ulcerative colitis is a chronic pathology characterized by relapsing-remitting phases of intestinal inflammation. Additionally, some patients develop neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety, or cognitive deficits. We aimed to investigate whether the development of chronic colitis elicits memory, locomotion, and mood impairments. It further examined whether these impairments are influenced by the relapsing-remitting phases of the colitis or by sex. Here, we used a chronic colitis model in male and female rats, induced with sodium dextran sulfate, mirroring the phases of human ulcerative colitis. Our results revealed that the severity of colitis was slightly higher in males than females. Chronic colitis triggered motor and short-term memory deficits and induced anxiety- and depression-like behaviors that remained throughout the development of the disease. There are also sex differences under control or inflammatory conditions. Therefore, in both situations, females compared to males displayed: (i) slightly lower locomotion, (ii) increased anxiety-like behaviors, (iii) similar depression-like behaviors, and (iv) similar short-term memory deficit. Additionally, under control conditions, the mRNA levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α were higher in the female hippocampus. In both sexes, when chronic colitis was established, the neuroinflammation was evidenced by increased mRNA levels of these three cytokines in the hippocampus and in the motor and prefrontal cortices. Interestingly, this neuroinflammation was slightly greater in males. In summary, we show that the development of chronic colitis caused persistent behavioral abnormalities, highlighting sex differences, and that could be a consequence, at least in part, of the increase in IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α in the brain., (© 2024 The Author(s). The FASEB Journal published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.)
- Published
- 2024
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