Hippocampal gene expression changes underlying stress sensitization and recovery

Chronic and acute stressors have been linked to changes in hippocampal function and anxiety-like behaviors. Both produce changes in gene expression, but the extent to which these changes endure beyond the end of stress remains poorly understood. As an essential first step to characterize abnormal patterns of gene expression after stress, this study demonstrates how chronic restraint stress (CRS) modulates gene expression in response to a novel stressor in the hippocampus of wild type mice and the extent to which these changes last beyond the end of CRS. Male C57/bl6 mice were subjected to 1) a forced swim test (FST), 2) Corticosterone (Cort) or vehicle injections, 3) CRS for 21 days and then a FST, or 4) allowed to recover 21 days after CRS and subjected to FST. Hippocampal mRNA was extracted and used to generate cDNA libraries for microarray hybridization. Naïve acute stressors (FST and vehicle injection) altered similar sets of genes, but Cort treatment produced a profile that was distinct from both FST and vehicle. Exposure to a novel stress after CRS activated substantially more and different genes than naïve exposure. Most genes increased by CRS were decreased after recovery, but many remained altered and did not return to baseline. Pathway analysis identified significant clusters of differentially expressed gene