Depressive-like behavior is elevated among offspring of parents exposed to dim light at night prior to mating
Open accessAbstract
Rates of major depressive disorder (MDD) have steadily increased over the past 50 years. Many factors have been implicated in the etiology of depressive disorders and environmental influences are being increasingly recognized. The increase in depression rates has coincided with increased artificial nighttime lighting. Exposure to light at night (LAN) has been associated with increased depressive-like behavior in rodents and decreased mood in humans. However, relatively little is known on the multigenerational effects of dLAN on affect. In this study, we exposed adult male and female Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) to either DARK (0lx) or dim LAN (5lx) for 9 weeks, then paired animals in a full factorial design; all animals were thereafter housed in dark nights. Offspring were gestated and reared in dark nights, then tested in adulthood for depressive-like behaviors and hippocampal expression of glucocorticoid (GR) and melatonin (MT1) receptor expression. Maternal exposure to dLAN decreased sucrose preference, time to first float bout in the Porsolt swim test, and GR expression in the hippocampus. Paternal exposure to dLAN increased time spent floating, and increased hippocampal GR expression. Overall, our results suggest that chronic exposure of parents to light at night has multigenerational effects on offspring depressive-like behavior. If these results pertain to humans, then our data suggest that LAN may contribute to the rapidly rising rates of major depressive disorder in industrialized and developing countries.
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Chronically exposing mice to dim light at night impairs adaptive immune function and increases depression-like behaviours in their offspring.
“For example, chronically exposing mice to dim light at night impairs adaptive immune function49 and increases depression-like behaviours50 in their offspring.”
From Rhythms of life: circadian disruption and brain disorders across the lifespan (2019) · cites this paper as [50]
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Rhythms of life: circadian disruption and brain disorders across the lifespan
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- Authors
- Cissé, Y. M., Russart, K. L. G., & Nelson, R. J.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cissé, Yasmine M.
- Venue
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-09
- Volume
- 83
- Pages
- 182-186
- ISSN
- 0306-4530 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5546089
- OpenAlex
- W2626639826
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 1.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/legal/tdmrep-license (tdm)
- www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ (am, 292 d)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-017 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-037 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-012 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-029 (stm-asf)
- doi.org/10.15223/policy-004 (stm-asf)
- Locations
- Psychoneuroendocrinology (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (11-18792)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Impact of Light on Environment and Health
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- light at night, dim light at night, depression-like behavior, major depressive disorder, multigenerational effects, parental exposure, Siberian hamster, hippocampus, glucocorticoid receptor, sucrose preference, forced swim test
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Animal, Circadian Rhythm, Depression, Major Depressive Disorder, Female, Glucocorticoids, Cricetinae, Hippocampus, Lighting, Male, Pregnancy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Reproduction, Phodopus, Photoperiod, Maternal Exposure, Paternal Exposure, Receptor, Melatonin, MT1
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