Fig. 1. Deletion of Pdcd4 prevents CRS-induced depression-like behaviors in mice.
a The change of mRNA levels of Pdcd4 in the hippocampal (HIP) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) after CRS. No-CRS n = 7–8, CRS n = 7–8; unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test, **P < 0.01. b, c The change of protein levels of Pdcd4 in the HIP and PFC after CRS. For HIP No-CRS n = 6, CRS n = 8, for PFC No-CRS n = 4, CRS n = 4; unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test, **P < 0.01. d Immobility time in TST, e immobility time in FST, and f sucrose consumption in SPT under basal or stress condition. n = 8 per group; mean ± SEM, two-way ANOVA and Sidak’s multiple comparison test, **P < 0.01. g Top, schematic of construct displaying mouse Pdcd4 subcloned into an AAV9 plasmid under transcriptional regulation of the CMV promoter (AAV9-CMV-mPdcd4-P2A-GFP); AAV9-CMV-P2A-GFP served as the control. Bottom, the schematic of the experiment. h Representative photomicrographs of injection sites in the hippocampus. n = 4 per group, Scale bars, 100 µm. i Fold change of Pdcd4 protein from hippocampus microdissections from control (n = 4) or AAV-Pdcd4–injected (n = 3) mice, unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test. j Mean immobility time (±SEM) for control (n = 8) and OE-Pdcd4 (n = 9) animals in the tail suspension test, unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test. k Mean immobility time (±SEM) for control (n = 8) and OE-Pdcd4 (n = 9) animals in the force swimming test, unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test. l Mean sucrose preference (±SEM) for control (n = 8) and OE-Pdcd4 (n = 9) animals, unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test. *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01.