Effects of Arvcf on anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in mice of different ages and sexes.

Abstract

Depression, a highly prevalent psychiatric disorder worldwide, poses significant threats to both mental and physical health. Our earlier investigations demonstrated that Arvcf is involved in addictive-related disorders. This study aims to determine whether Arvcf is also involved in mood-related phenotypes. By employing various behavioral tests including open field test (OFT), elevated plus maze test (EPM), forced swim test (FST), and tail suspension test (TST), we evaluated the anxiety- and depression-like behaviors on our own created Arvcf-knockout (Arvcf-KO) mouse model. We found that both 8-week and 26-week Arvcf-KO mice of both sexes spent significantly more time in the central area of the OFT, on the open arms of the EPM, and exhibited longer duration of struggling in the TST and FST compared to wild-type mice of the corresponding age. Protein expression analysis with the Olink Neurology panel and immunofluorescence staining revealed that Kitl and Wfikkn2 were significantly up-regulated in Arvcf-KO mice of both sexes. Further bioinformatic analysis indicated that these two proteins along with other up-regulated proteins, were all predominantly enriched in immune-related pathways. Taken together, these findings demonstrated that the deletion of Arvcf significantly reduces the anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in both sexes of different ages, highlighting the important role of Arvcf in psychiatric related disorders.