Transplantation with mGluR5 deficiency bone marrow displays antidepressant-like effect in C57BL/6J mice

Antidepressant-like effects of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) have been verified by specific antagonists or whole body knock-out (KO) mice. Previous experiments indicate that blocking mGluR5 exerts antidepressant-like effects through neuronal mechanisms, like modulating NMDA receptor activity or 5-HT system. Here we found that transplanting bone marrow from mGluR5 KO mice to WT mice could also show antidepressant-like effects, which were confirmed by sucrose preference test and tail suspension test. Furthermore, mGluR5 deficiency dramatically inhibits cytokines release from bone marrow cells, such as IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-6, alleviating proinflammatory responses in LPS-induced depression model. In addition, inhibited cytokines could decrease the activation of brain endothelial cells in ERK-dependent manner. These data provide the evidence that blocking mGluR5 could improve depression through inhibiting peripheral immune responses, confirming the causal relationship between peripheral immune phenotype and brain behavior.