Antidepressant effect of the novel histone deacetylase-5 inhibitor T2943 in a chronic restraint stress mouse model

Depression is a prevalent and debilitating psychiatric illness. However, the antidepressant drugs currently prescribed are only effective in a limited group of patients. Histone modifications mediated by histone acetylation are considered to play an important role in the pathogenesis and treatment of depression. Recent studies have revealed that histone deacetylase inhibitors may be involved in the pathogenesis of depression and the underlying mechanism of the antidepressant therapeutic action. Here, we first conducted virtual screening of histone deacetylase-5 (HDAC5) inhibitors against HDAC5, a target closely related to depression, and identified compound T2943, further verifying its inhibitory effect on enzyme activities in vitro. After stereotaxic injection of T2943 into the hippocampus of mice, the antidepressant effect of T2943 was evaluated using behavioral experiments. We also used different proteomic and molecular biology analyses to determine and confirm that T2943 promoted histone 3 lysine 14 acetylation (H3K14ac) by inhibiting HDAC5 activity. Following the overexpression of adenoviral HDAC5 in the hippocampus of mice and subsequent behavioral analyses, we confirmed that T2943 exerts antidepressant effects by inhibiting HDAC5 activity. Our findings highlight the efficacy of targeting HDAC5 to treat depression and demonstrate the potential of using T2943 as an antidepressant. [Display omitted] •High HDAC5 expression in the hippocampus is associated with depression.•HDAC5 inhibitors were virtually screened from a compound database.•HDAC5 in mouse hippocampal tissue was targeted for screening.•Compound T2943 is a novel HDAC5 inhibitor.•Compound T2943 has an antidepressant effect, inhibiting HDAC5 and upregulating H3K14ac.