Vascular and blood-brain barrier-related changes underlie stress responses and resilience in female mice and depression in human tissue

Prevalence, symptoms, and treatment of depression suggest that major depressive disorders (MDD) present sex differences. Social stress-induced neurovascular pathology is associated with depressive symptoms in male mice; however, this association is unclear in females. Here, we report that chronic social and subchronic variable stress promotes blood-brain barrier (BBB) alterations in mood-related brain regions of female mice. Targeted disruption of the BBB in the female prefrontal cortex (PFC) induces anxiety- and depression-like behaviours. By comparing the endothelium cell-specific transcriptomic profiling of the mouse male and female PFC, we identify several pathways and genes involved in maladaptive stress…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• SF
  Science Foundation Ireland

  Award: 16/RC/3948
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
• IR
  Irish Research Council
• CF
  Canada First Research Excellence Fund
• CI
  Canadian Institutes of Health Research

  Award: 427011
• FD
  Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé

  Award: Junior 1
• ER
  European Regional Development Fund

  Award: 16/RC/3948