IGF and Mood

Gender Specific?

IGF is a known mood modulator. This paper hypothesizes that the impact of increased IGF is sex dependent: Victor Munive, Andrea Santi and Ignacio Torres-Aleman. A Concerted Action Of Estradiol And Insulin Like Growth Factor I Underlies Sex Differences In Mood Regulation By Exercise. Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 25969 (2016) doi:10.1038/srep25969.

Our IGF-I R/CD221-Fluorescein Labeled was used to link Estrodial with elevating IGF-I levels in female mice.

Images: (A) Cultured brain endothelial cells accumulate significantly more IGF-I after treatment with 10⁻¹⁰M estradiol (E2). Representative blot is shown (*p less than 0.05 vs control; n = 8 per group). (B) The effects of E2 were mediated by α E2 receptors as only the α inhibitor MPP blocked E2 actions. Representative blots are shown (*p less than 0.05; n = 8). (C) Levels of IGF-I receptor (green) at the cell membrane of endothelial cells are markedly increased three hours after addition of 10⁻¹⁰M E2.

Summary: Sex-specific responses to physiological neuroprotective stimuli such as physical activity, that modulate mood in part through modulation of endocrine signals, contribute to sex differences in mood homeostasis. Hopefully, a better understanding of these differences will help us gain insight of sex differences in the incidence of mood disorders.