Subregion-specific Protective Effects of Fluoxetine and Clozapine on Parvalbumin Expression in Medial Prefrontal Cortex of Chronically Isolated Rats

Dysregulation of GABAergic system is becoming increasingly associated with depression, psychiatric disorder that imposes severe clinical, social and economic burden. Special attention is paid to the fast-spiking parvalbumin-positive (PV+) interneurons, GABAergic neurons which are highly susceptible to redox dysregulation and oxidative stress and implicated in a variety of psychiatric diseases. Here we analyzed the number of PV+ and cleaved caspase-3-positive (CC3+) cells in the rat medial prefrontal cortical (mPFC) subregions following chronic social isolation (CSIS), an animal model of depression and schizophrenia. Also, we examined potential protective effects of antidepressant fluoxetine (FLX) and atypical antipsychotic clozapine (CLZ) on the number of these cells in mPFC subregions, when applied parallel with CSIS in doses that correspond to therapeutically effective ones in patients. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed decreased number of PV+ cells in cingulate cortex area 1, prelimbic area (PrL), infralimbic area (IL) and dorsal peduncular cortex of the mPFC in isolated rats, which coincided with depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors. In addition, CSIS-induced increase in the number of CC3+ cells was detected in aforementioned subregions of mPFC. Treatments with either FLX or CLZ prevented behavioral changes, decrease in PV+ and increase in CC3+ cell numbers in PrL and IL subregions in isolated rats. These results indicate the importance of intact GABAergic signaling in these areas for resistance against CSIS-induced behavioral changes, as well as subregion-specific protective effects of FLX and CLZ in mPFC of CSIS rats. © 2018 IBR