Department of General Zoology and Neurobiology
Institute: Institute for Biology and Biotechnology Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology
44780 Bochum, Germany
Phone: +49 234 32 28343>
Mail: Katharina.Spoida@rub.de
Website: www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/neurobiol/

 

Aim:  Investigation of the role of 5-HT receptor signals in the LHb regulating depressive-like behavior in mice

Recently, the lateral habenula (LHb) has emerged as key brain region in the pathophysiology of depression and aberrant activity of the LHb is associated with depressive symptoms by possible suppression of serotonergic function (Yang et al., 2018). However, it is still elusive which cellular and molecular mechanisms induce hyperactivity of the LHb in depressive states. In this context it should be considered that the LHb is modulated by the serotonergic system as they are reciprocally connected (Zhou et al., 2017). Distinct G protein-coupled 5-HT receptors, among them the 5-HT2CR, are expressed in the LHb (Zuo et al., 2016). Pharmacological studies showed that stimulation with a 5-HT2CR agonist in the LHb caused depressive-like behavior in sham-operated and aggravates depressive symptoms in hemiparkinsonian rats (Han et al., 2015). This effect was accompanied with reduced monoamine levels in various brain areas following activation of 5-HT2CRs in the LHb (Han et al., 2015). Further investigation of the underlying cellular mechanisms will delineate the role of the LHb in depression linked to 5-HT2CR signaling.

 

 10 selected publications 

• Süß, S.T., Olbricht, L.M,, Herlitze, S., Spoida, K. Constitutive 5-HT2C receptor knock-out facilitates fear extinction through altered activity of a dorsal raphe-bed nucleus of the stria terminalis pathway (2022). Transl Psychiatry. 2022 Nov 19. DOI: 10.1038/s41398-022-02252-x.

• Azimi, Z., Barzan, R., Spoida, K., Surdin, T., Wollenweber, P., Mark, M. D., Stefan Herlitze, S., Jancke, D. (2020). Separable gain control of ongoing and evoked activity in the visual cortex by serotonergic input. eLife 9. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.53552.

• Tennigkeit, S. A., Karapinar, R., Rudack, T., Dreier, M.-A., Althoff, P., Eickelbeck, D., Gerwert, K. (2019). Design of an Ultrafast G Protein Switch Based on a Mouse Melanopsin Variant. Chembiochem: a European Journal of Chemical Biology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201900110

• Eickelbeck, D., Karapinar, R., Jack, A., Suess, S.T., Barzan, R., Azimi, Z., Surdin, T.,Grömmke, M., Mark, M.D., Gerwert, K., Jancke, D., Wahle, P., Spoida, K. and Herlitze, S. (2019). CaMello-XR enables visualization and optogenetic control of Gq/11 signals and receptor trafficking in GPCR-specific domains. Commun Biol. 2:60. doi: 10.1038/s42003- 019-0292-y. eCollection 2019

• Eickelbeck, D., Karapinar, R., Herlitze, S., Spoida, K. Optogenetic Approaches for Controlling Neuronal Activity and Plasticity (2018). In Handbook of In Vivo Neural Plasticity Techniques; Elsevier: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2018; pp. 285Ð310

• Spoida, K., Eickelbeck, D., Karapinar, R., Eckhardt, T., Mark, M.D., Jancke, D., Ehinger, B., Kšnig, P., Dalkara, D., Herlitze, S. and Masseck, O.A. (2016) Melanopsin Variants as  Intrinsic Optogenetic On and Off Switches for Transient versus Sustained Activation of G Protein Pathways. Current Biology, 26(9):1206-12.

• Spoida, K., Masseck, O.A., Deneris, E.S. and Herlitze, S. (2014). Gq/5-HT2c receptor signals activate a local GABAergic inhibitory feedback circuit to modulate serotonergic firing and anxiety in mice. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 111(17):6479-84.

• Masseck, O.A., Spoida, K., Dalkara, D., Maejima, T., Rubelowski, J.M., Wallhorn, L., Deneris, E.S. and Herlitze, S. (2014) Vertebrate cone opsins enable sustained and highly sensitive rapid control of Gi/o signaling in anxiety circuitry. Neuron 19(81): 1263-73.

• Spoida, K., Distler, C., Trampe, A.-K., and Hoffmann, K.-H. (2012) "Blocking retinal chloride co-transporters KCC2 and NKCC: impact on direction selective ON and OFF responses in the rat's nucleus of the optic tract," PloS one 7 (9), e44724.

• Masseck, O.A., Rubelowski, J.M., Spoida, K. and Herlitze, S. (2012). ÒLight- and drugactivated G-protein-coupled receptors to control intracellular signalling,Ó Experimental Physiology 96 (1), 51Ð56 (2011).