Depressive-like behavior is elevated among offspring of parents exposed to dim light at night prior to mating

Jun 24, 2017Psychoneuroendocrinology

Increased depression-like behavior in offspring of parents exposed to dim light at night before mating

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Abstract

Maternal exposure to dim light at night (5lx) decreased sucrose preference and altered hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor expression in offspring.

Increased rates of major depressive disorder (MDD) have been observed over the past 50 years.
Exposure to light at night (LAN) is associated with depressive-like behavior in both rodents and humans.
Chronic dim LAN exposure in adult Siberian hamsters affected both maternal and paternal contributions to offspring behavior.
Maternal exposure to dLAN resulted in decreased sucrose preference and increased time spent floating during a swim test.
Paternal exposure to dLAN increased the time spent floating and heightened glucocorticoid receptor expression in the hippocampus.
These findings suggest potential multigenerational effects of nighttime lighting on depressive-like behaviors.

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Rates of major depressive disorder (MDD) have steadily increased over the past 50 years. Many factors have been implicated in the etiology of depressive disorders and environmental influences are being increasingly recognized. The increase in depression rates has coincided with increased artificial nighttime lighting. Exposure to light at night (LAN) has been associated with increased depressive-like behavior in rodents and decreased mood in humans. However, relatively little is known on the multigenerational effects of dLAN on affect. In this study, we exposed adult male and female Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) to either DARK (0lx) or dim LAN (5lx) for 9 weeks, then paired animals in a full factorial design; all animals were thereafter housed in dark nights. Offspring were gestated and reared in dark nights, then tested in adulthood for depressive-like behaviors and hippocampal expression of glucocorticoid (GR) and melatonin (MT1) receptor expression. Maternal exposure to dLAN decreased sucrose preference, time to first float bout in the Porsolt swim test, and GR expression in the hippocampus. Paternal exposure to dLAN increased time spent floating, and increased hippocampal GR expression. Overall, our results suggest that chronic exposure of parents to light at night has multigenerational effects on offspring depressive-like behavior. If these results pertain to humans, then our data suggest that LAN may contribute to the rapidly rising rates of major depressive disorder in industrialized and developing countries.

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Depressive-like behavior is elevated among offspring of parents exposed to dim light at night prior to mating

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