期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2003
卷号：100
期号：15
页码：8969-8974
DOI：10.1073/pnas.1531155100
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：One hypothesis for the etiology of behavioral disorders is that infection by a virus induces neuronal cell dysfunctions resulting in a wide range of behavioral abnormalities. However, a direct linkage between viral infections and neurobehavioral disturbances associated with human psychiatric disorders has not been identified. Here, we show that transgenic mice expressing the phosphoprotein (P) of Borna disease virus (BDV) in glial cells develop behavioral abnormalities, such as enhanced intermale aggressiveness, hyperactivity, and spatial reference memory deficit. We demonstrate that the transgenic brains exhibit a significant reduction in brain-derived neurotrophic factor and serotonin receptor expression, as well as a marked decrease in synaptic density. These results demonstrate that glial expression of BDV P leads to behavioral and neurobiological disturbances resembling those in BDV-infected animals. Furthermore, the lack of reactive astrocytosis and neuronal degeneration in the brains indicates that P can directly induce glial cell dysfunction and also suggests that the transgenic mice may exhibit neuropathological and neurophysiological abnormalities resembling those of psychiatric patients. Our results provide a new insight to explore the relationship between viral infections and neurobehavioral disorders.
