Stress-Induced Dysfunction of Excitatory Amino Acid Transport in Hippocampal Astrocytes of Mice

OBJECTIVE To observe the effect of stress on the excitatory amino acid transport function of hippocampus astrocytes in mice. METHODS 100 male ICR mice were randomly divided into 10 groups， 5 control groups and 5 model groups. The stress model was made by intraperitoneal injection of corticosterone. Ten groups of animals were allocated to five time points (1， 2， 3， 4， 5 weeks). Another 30 male ICR mice were divided into control group， model group and ginseng intervention group. Two groups of experiments were conducted independently， and the experimental period was 5 weeks. At the end of the experiment， body weight， ethology， neuron structure/function index (NF-L， SYP)， astrocyte biomarker index (GFAP) and excitatory amino acid transport function index (EAATs) were measured and analyzed statistically. RESULTS The expression of astrocyte marker protein was highly expressed in the hippocampus of mice 1 to 3 weeks after corticosterone injection. The expression level was down-regulated at the 3rd week and showed a significant difference (P<0.05)， and the expression of neuronal structural function index was down-regulated. Neuronal damage， experimental animals showed significant changes in body weight and behavior (P<0.05). Further detection of astrocyte excitatory amino acid transporter protein showed down-regulation of expression and a positive correlation with neuronal damage.CONCLUSION Intraperitoneal injection of corticosterone can damage the hippocampus neurons of mice and exhibit behavioral abnormalities. The mechanism may be caused by stress affecting the astrocyte excitatory amino acid transport function.