抑郁症的发病机制以及治疗一直是心理学和医学界颇受关注又未彻底解决的问题。星形胶质细胞与抑郁症的发生发展密切相关，是治疗抑郁症的重要潜在靶细胞，寻找并认识可以调节星形胶质细胞功能的分子，对指导抑郁症的治疗具有重要意义。在星形胶质细胞中表达一种与抑郁症相关的ATP门控的离子通道P2X7。P2X7受体敲除后的小鼠表现出抗抑郁样行为。在细胞水平，P2X7受体参与调节星形胶质细胞的吞噬活性，谷氨酸的释放以及细胞凋亡等过程。目前尚未见关于星形胶质细胞中P2X7受体表达改变在抑郁症中作用的报道。对于P2X7受体对星形胶质细胞功能的调节在抑郁症中的作用也还不清楚。最近我们研究发现海马星形胶质细胞中P2X7受体表达下调使小鼠产生抗抑郁样行为。本项目计划进一步研究在无应激暴露以及存在应激刺激条件下不同脑区P2X7受体对星形胶质细胞功能调节作用及其对动物抑郁行为的影响及机制，从而为抑郁症的治疗提供新思路。

The mechanisms and the treatment of depressive disorder have been studied and this question has not been completely solved yet in psychology and clinical areas. Astrocytes play an important role in the pathogenetic progression of depression. It’s a potential target for the treatment of depression. Therefore, it’s of great importance to find and investigate the molecules which can modulate astrocytes. P2X7 receptor is a kind of ATP-gated ion channel which is expressed in astrocytes. The P2X7-/- mice exhibits an antidepressant-like profile. At the cellular level, P2X7 receptor is involved in the regulation of the activity of phagocytes, glutamate release and apoptosis of astrocytes. The regulation of P2X7 receptor on astrocytes in depression is still unclear. In recent study, we found that the down-regulation of P2X7 receptor of astrocytes in hippocampal resulted in antidepressant-like behaviors in mice. In this project, we plan to further study the functions of P2X7 receptor in astrocytes of different brain regions, to understand whether such functions can influence the depressive behaviors with or without stress exposure.