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Mice subjected to unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) develop a depression-like syndrome (e.g., progressively worsened coat, reduced weight gain, and increased agonistic behaviors); the stressors concurrently induce region-specific patterns of gene expression in the anterior cingulate cortex and lateral/basolateral nuclei of the amygdala. Chronic fluoxetine treatment can reverse the syndrome and the genetic expression pattern.
In a human autopsy study, investigators examined expression of these genes in 16 white men with familial major depression and 16 matched nondepressed controls and compared the results with expression in UCMS mice. Overall, expression of many genes in the amygdala, but not the anterior cingulate, was similar in the…