Primary Cilia Mediate Stress Vulnerability and Exercise Antidepressant Adaptation: Evidence for Ventral Hippocampal Astrocytic Ciliary Remodeling by Exercise

Transcriptomic profiling of vHPC showed that this adaptive state was associated with the coordinated modulation of primary cilium-associated gene networks. Morphometric analyses confirmed that chronic stress-induced pronounced elongation of primary cilia, particularly in astrocytes, whereas low-intensity exercise restored both ciliary length and the proportion of ciliated astrocytes. These structural recalibrations coincided with reduced expression of proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-1α and fractalkine, suggesting that astrocytic cilia act as a key interface linking stress signaling to neuroimmune regulation.

Collectively, these findings outline a mechanistic cascade in which exercise below the VT engages vHPC circuits, reorganizes cilia-related transcriptional programs, and restores astrocyte and inflammatory homeostasis, converting stress-susceptible states into resilient phenotypes.