Congenitally learned helpless rats show abnormalities in intracellular signaling

Background Affective disorders and the drugs used to treat them lead to changes in intracellular signaling. We used a genetic animal model to investigate to what extent changes in intracellular signal transduction confer a vulnerability to mood or anxiety disorders. Methods Levels of gene expression in a selectively bred strain of rats with a high vulnerability to develop congenitally learned helplessness (cLH), a strain highly resistant to the same behavior (cNLH) and outbred Sprague-Dawley (SD) control animals were compared using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results Congenitally learned helpless animals had a 24%–30% reduced expression of the cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding protein messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) in the hippocampus and a 40%–41% increased level of the antiapoptotic protein bcl-2 mRNA in the prefrontal cortex compared to cNLH and SD rats. Other significant changes included changes in the expression levels of the alpha catalytic subunit of protein kinase A, glycogen synthase kinase 3β, and protein kinase C ε. Conclusions Congenitally learned helpless animals show evidence of altered signal transduction and regulation of apoptosis compared to cNLH and SD control animals.