Fluoxetine attenuates the inhibitory effect of glucocorticoid hormones on neurogenesis in vitro via a two-pore domain potassium channel, TREK-1

Sustained stress and elevated glucocorticoid reduces neurogenesis, whereas chronic treatment with antidepressants increases neurogenesis and blocks the effects of stress. Recently, TREK-1, a two-pore domain (K(2)p) potassium channel, has been shown to be involved in the mechanisms of major depression. This study aimed to investigate whether TREK-1 is involved in the alteration of neurogenesis according to glucocorticoids and antidepressants. The present study addressed the expression of TREK-1 in neural stem cells (NSCs) and found TREK-1 was only associated with NSC proliferation. Bupivacaine and curcumin, two strong TREK-1 channel inhibitors, significantly increased embryonic NSC viability and proliferation while transfection of hTREK-1 decreased cell proliferation in embryonic NSCs. Dexamethasone, a glucocorticoid hormone receptor agonist, upregulated both protein and mRNA levels of TREK-1 leading to decreased NSC proliferation which could be reversed by bupivacaine. Fluoxetine, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant that has been previously found to inhibit TREK-1 channels, robustly, could attenuate the upregulation of TREK-1 expression and the inhibition of NSC proliferation induced by dexamethasone. Taken together, these data suggest that TREK-1 is associated with NSC proliferation and probably is a modulator of the effect that fluoxetine attenuates the inhibitory neurogenesis induced by glucocorticoid hormones.