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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mol. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Disease Mechanisms
Volume 17 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2024.1459858

Follicle-Stimulating Hormone Induces Depression-Like Phenotype by Affecting Synaptic Function

Provisionally accepted
Liqin Huang Liqin Huang 1Shangqi Sun Shangqi Sun 2Gege Jiang Gege Jiang 1Guanfeng Xie Guanfeng Xie 1Yunying Yang Yunying Yang 1Sichun Chen Sichun Chen 1Jiaying Luo Jiaying Luo 1Chen Lv Chen Lv 1Xiang Li Xiang Li 1Jianming Liao Jianming Liao 3Zhi-Hao Wang Zhi-Hao Wang 1Zhaohui Zhang Zhaohui Zhang 1*Jing Xiong Jing Xiong 1*
  • 1 Department of Neurology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
  • 2 Department of Neurology, Wuhan Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
  • 3 Department of Neurosurgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Depression is one of the most common affective disorders in people's life. Women are susceptibility to depression during puberty, peripartum and menopause transition, when they are suffering from sex hormone fluctuation. A lot of studies have demonstrated the neuroprotective effect of estrogen on depression in women, however the effect of FSH on depression is unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of FSH on depression in mice. Our study demonstrated that FSH induced depression-like behaviors in mice in a dose-dependent manner. This induction was associated with elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in both serum and hippocampal tissues. Additionally, FSH treatment resulted in impaired synaptic plasticity and a reduction in the expression of key synaptic proteins, namely glutamate receptor 1 (GluR1), vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGluT1), and glutamate decarboxylase 67 (GAD67). It is noteworthy that the depression-like behaviors, inflammatory cytokines expression and synaptic plasticity impairment induced by FSH could be alleviated by knocking down the expression of FSH receptor (FSHR) in the hippocampus of the mice. Therefore, our findings reveal that FSH may play an important role in the pathogenesis of depression and targeting FSH may be a potential therapeutic strategy for depression during hormone fluctuation in women.

    Keywords: ：depression, FSH, Inflammation, synaptic plasticity, GABA, Glutamate

    Received: 05 Jul 2024; Accepted: 03 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Huang, Sun, Jiang, Xie, Yang, Chen, Luo, Lv, Li, Liao, Wang, Zhang and Xiong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Zhaohui Zhang, Department of Neurology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
    Jing Xiong, Department of Neurology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

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