Neutrophil gelatinase‐associated lipocalin in rats with myocardial infarction: expression in the brain related to depression? (728.13)

Abstract

Heart failure increases the risk to develop depression, which worsens prognosis. Plasma Neutrophil Gelatinase‐Associated Lipocalin (NGAL), associated with heart failure as well as with depression, is found increased in cardiomyocytes weeks after myocardial infarction (MI) in rats. This study was aimed to investigate the role of NGAL in depressive symptoms in MI rats.Male Wistar rats were subjected to coronary artery ligation (MI) or sham surgery. Three weeks later, depressive symptoms were obtained from the open field test. Plasma levels of NGAL were measured with Elisa, and NGAL expression in the brain was obtained using immunohistochemistry.Plasma NGAL levels were increased related to infarct size (r=0.78, p=0.013, N=9). NGAL expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus was increased in MI compared to sham rats (45±7 vs 26±3 NGAL+ cells per high power field), irrespective of plasma NGAL levels. The increased number of NGAL positive cells in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus was negatively correlated to exploratory behavior in the open field (r=‐0.77, p=0.006). A decrease in exploratory behavior in the open field can be considered a sign of depressive behavior.Data indicate that while circulating NGAL may rather represent severity of heart failure, locally expressed NGAL in the brain may be associated with depressive symptoms after myocardial infarction in rats.