Photoperiod (day-length) has enduring effects on an organism's physiological functions like metabolism and behavioral phenotypes including cognition and affect. Circadian rhythm manipulations are potentially effective non-pharmacological strategies in the management of central nervous system insults. In our previous study, we demonstrated the efficacy of short photoperiod regime (SPR; 06/18 hr light-dark cycle) in establishing functional recovery in ventral subicular lesion (VSL) rats. The present study further demonstrates the efficacy of SPR in mitigating anxiety and depression as well as facilitating socio-cognitive behavior in VSL rats. VSL elevated the basal plasma corticosterone levels, increased anxiety, anhedonia, and behavioral despair with decreased self-care. The VSL rats also exhibited a considerable degree of impaired social cognition, in terms of altered social preference and social novelty. Exposure to SPR for 21 days mitigated the anxiety- and depressive-like phenotypes as well as improved social cognition significantly. Thus, the study demonstrated the effectiveness of SPR strategy in reversing most of the behavioral deficits caused by VSL. SPR, perhaps, would have regulated the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis responsiveness as we observed a decrease in plasma corticosterone levels following SPR in VSL rats. The study implies the need for developing a task-dependent SPR strategy to achieve complete behavioral recovery as the functional demands of each behavior is distinct. In summary, the study highlights the efficacy of photoperiod manipulation as a novel, non-pharmacological approach in mitigating the affective and cognitive deficits associated with neuropsychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder and Alzheimer's disease wherein circadian rhythm alterations are implicated.

中文翻译：

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短光周期可恢复雄性 Wistar 大鼠的腹侧皮下病变引起的情感和社会认知行为缺陷。

光周期（日长）对生物体的生理功能如新陈代谢和行为表型（包括认知和情感）具有持久影响。昼夜节律操纵是中枢神经系统损伤管理中潜在有效的非药物策略。在我们之前的研究中，我们证明了短光周期方案（SPR；06/18 小时明暗循环）在建立腹侧皮下病变 (VSL) 大鼠功能恢复方面的功效。本研究进一步证明了 SPR 在减轻 VSL 大鼠的焦虑和抑郁以及促进社会认知行为方面的功效。VSL 升高了基础血浆皮质酮水平，增加了焦虑、快感缺乏和行为绝望，同时降低了自我照顾。VSL 大鼠还表现出相当程度的社会认知受损，在改变的社会偏好和社会新奇方面。暴露于 SPR 21 天可减轻焦虑和抑郁样表型，并显着改善社会认知。因此，该研究证明了 SPR 策略在扭转由 VSL 引起的大多数行为缺陷方面的有效性。SPR 可能会调节下丘脑 - 垂体 - 肾上腺轴反应性，因为我们观察到 VSL 大鼠 SPR 后血浆皮质酮水平降低。该研究意味着需要开发依赖于任务的 SPR 策略来实现完全的行为恢复，因为每种行为的功能需求是不同的。总之，该研究强调了光周期操纵的功效作为一种新颖的，