Chronic mild stress-induced alterations of local protein synthesis: a role for cognitive impairment

Depression, a major cause of disability worldwide, is characterized by a complex and heterogeneous symptomatology. With this respect, cognitive deterioration represents a major problem that has a strong impact on patient's function. Thus, within the context of a depressive phenotype, it is important to characterize the mechanisms that sustain cognitive dysfunctions and may represent an important target for pharmacological intervention. Here, using the chronic mild stress (CMS) paradigm of depression, we found that, independently from the anhedonic phenotype, CMS rats showed a deficit in the novel object recognition (NOR) test, which is associated with an inability to phosphorylate GluN2B subunit on Ser1303 and to activate the mTOR pathway. In agreement with the role of these systems in the control of local protein synthesis, we observed an increase phosphorylated of the eukaryotic Elongation Factor 2 (eEF2) in the crude synaptosomal fraction after the NOR test specifically in control animals. Since it has been demonstrated that peEF2 leads to the translation of specific mRNAs, we investigated if the gene-specific translational control depends on the presence of uORFs. Interestingly, we found a significant increase of oligophrenin-1 (2 uORFs) and of Bmal1 (7 uORFs) protein levels specifically in the control animals exposed to the NOR test. Our results demonstrated that the cognitive decline associated with stress exposure might be due to alterations in local protein translation of specific mRNAs, suggesting that a pharmacological intervention able to correct these defects might be useful in the improvement of deteriorated functions in patients with major depression and stress-related disorders.