Emerging evidence suggests that hierarchical status provide vulnerability to develop stress-induced depression. Energy metabolic changes in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) were recently related to hierarchical status and vulnerability to develop depression-like behavior. Acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC), a mitochondria-boosting supplement, has shown promising antidepressant-like effects opening therapeutic opportunities for restoring energy balance in depressed patients. We investigated the metabolic impact in the NAc of antidepressant LAC treatment in chronically-stressed mice using ¹H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS). High rank, but not low rank, mice, as assessed with the tube test, showed behavioral vulnerability to stress, supporting a higher susceptibility of high social rank mice to develop depressive-like behaviors. High rank mice also showed reduced levels of several energy-related metabolites in the NAc that were counteracted by LAC treatment. Therefore, we reveal a metabolic signature in the NAc for antidepressant-like effects of LAC in vulnerable mice characterized by restoration of stress-induced neuroenergetics alterations and lipid function.

中文翻译：

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伏伏核中的代谢特征对乙酰基左旋肉碱的抗抑郁样作用

越来越多的证据表明，等级制状态容易造成压力诱发的抑郁症。伏伏核（NAc）中的能量代谢变化最近与等级状态和发展类似抑郁症行为的脆弱性有关。乙酰左旋肉碱（LAC）是一种增强线粒体的补品，已显示出令人期待的抗抑郁药样作用，为恢复抑郁症患者的能量平衡提供了治疗机会。我们使用¹ H磁共振波谱法（^1来研究抗应激LAC治疗慢性应激小鼠NAc中的代谢影响H-MRS）。通过试管测试评估，高等级但非低等级的小鼠表现出对压力的行为脆弱性，支持了较高社会等级的小鼠对抑郁症行为的敏感性。高等级小鼠还显示出NAc中几种能量相关代谢物的水平降低，这些水平被LAC治疗所抵消。因此，我们揭示了NAc的抗衰老小鼠LAC的抗抑郁样作用的代谢特征，其特征是恢复应激诱导的神经能学改变和脂质功能。