manuscript review instructions
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Sample ReviewModulated Expression Of Subcortical Proteins By Serotonin And NoradrenalineReuptake Inhibitors RtR23 and RtR57 In A Rat Model Of Chronic Stress
NewReview Manuscript Summary
Congratulations on taking this step toward your publication goals!
The goal of this report is to indicate the portions of your manuscript that may drawcriticism from journal reviewers. The reviewers comments will help you to reviseyour manuscripts weak spots and improve the strength of the overall report prior to
journal submission.
On this page we have provided instructions regarding your next steps toward journal
submission. On the subsequent page, we have provided a Manuscript Overview thatindicates the main revisions that you will need to consider prior to journalsubmission. The final section of this report contains detailed reviewer commentsregarding each section of your manuscript.
Author Instructions:
1. Read through the Manuscript Overview on the next page, and then read through the detailed
reviewer comments that follow the Overview.
2. Check for any additional editorial and review comments that were added to the manuscript
document.
3. Revise your manuscript based on the reviewers suggestions.
4. Within six months of your original review submission, re-submit the revised manuscript to AJE toclaim your pre-paid final edit. Contact AJE support at [email protected] if you requireJournal Recommendation or Formatting services.
5. Once you receive the final version from AJE, simply review and accept the editing changes andremove the comments. Make sure you do not add any un-edited additional text to your manuscript atthis point or your editing certificate will not be valid.
6. Submit the final, AJE-edited manuscript to the journal of your choice.
7. Once your manuscript has been accepted for publication in a journal, be sure to let us know ofyour success! Simply log in to your account and click on the "Share Your Success" link next to this
manuscript in your submission list.
Author Instructions:
1. Read through the Manuscript Overview on the next page, and then read through the detailed
reviewer comments that follow the Overview.
2. Check for any additional editorial and review comments that were added to the manuscript
document.
3. Revise your manuscript based on the reviewers suggestions.
4. Within six months of your original review submission, re-submit the revised manuscript to AJE toclaim your pre-paid final edit. Contact AJE support at [email protected] if you requireJournal Recommendation or Formatting services.
5. Once you receive the final version from AJE, simply review and accept the editing changes andremove the comments. Make sure you do not add any un-edited additional text to your manuscript atthis point or your editing certificate will not be valid.
6. Submit the final, AJE-edited manuscript to the journal of your choice.
7. Once your manuscript has been accepted for publication in a journal, be sure to let us know ofyour success! Simply log in to your account and click on the "Share Your Success" link next to this
manuscript in your submission list.
NewReview Manuscript Summary - Review - Page 1
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Manuscript Overview
This interesting report examines the effect of SNRI compounds RtR23 and RtR57 on levels of
subcortically expressed high abundance proteins in an anhedonic rat model of chronic stress. This
content review from AJE focuses on suggestions we believe the authors may want to address prior to
journal submission.
* While the reviewers believe this paper is a valuable contribution to its field, that importance is not
made apparent enough in the Abstract. A concluding statement incorporating a comment on the
newness and potential impact of the findings would help to engage a journal reader.
* The Introduction can be shortened and made more concise.
* The Methods are carefully described, however, the reviewers pointed out some areas (pcr reaction,statistics, etc.) that might benefit from rewriting as suggested in the review.
* The Results section also requires rewriting for clarity. Equally important is the need to correct
discrepancies regarding several data points listed in figures, which are indicated.
* The Discussion section could easily be made more informative by placing the authors' results in the
context of previously published studies more so than in the current paper. A more complete
comparison of the authors' data to literature reports would help the reader to understand the newness
of the findings and how they extend the work of others.
* Clearly stated Conclusions at the end of the main text would leave the reader with the most important
messages to take away from this research report.
NewReview at American Journal Experts thanks the authors for the opportunity to offer this
pre-submission peer review. We wish you the best of luck with rewriting and submitting this impressive
work to a highly regarded journal.
Detailed Reviewer Comments by Section
Title page
The title of this paper appropriately reflects the purpose of this study, i.e., to investigate the
impact of SSNRIs RtR23 and RtR57 on expressed products in a rat stress model.
The title page information is currently incomplete, which may have been intentional for this
pre-submission review. As a reminder, prior to submission, please include: full authorship with
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affiliations, corresponding author with contact information, key words (usually up to 5), and a
running title (usually no more than 40 characters and spaces). The word count and funding
sources also may be required by your intended journal. Please consult the journal's Instructions
for Authors on for details.
Abstract
The abstract is much too brief (3 sentences). Consider including opening sentences that
emphasize the motivation for this study based on relevant background literature. In one or two
sentences indicate the important issue(s) not addressed in previous reports of others that relate
to this class of compounds and the described behavioral model. What then is the objective of
the present study that follows logically from that preceding background information? Did the
authors test a hypothesis? If so, please state the hypothesis.
Briefly indicate the experimental approach and summarize the overall results. At the end of the
abstract please provide a concise conclusion that can be drawn from the results.
Any subsequent corrections or changes to the methods, results, discussion and/or conclusions
based on the comments below should also be changed in the abstract to maintain consistency.
Introduction
The current Introduction is quite long and detailed. The purpose of this section is not to provide
a general introduction a concept or field of interest, but to introduce the rationale for the specific
experiments that were performed, and the hypothesis that drives the studies. This is to be done
within the context of relevant background material. Consider removing summaries of previous
reports that do not directly relate to the current research (e.g., paragraphs 4 and 5; first two
sentences of paragraph 6). Such changes would help make the Introduction more focused. The
authors should consider emphasizing the relevant literature on the association between
SNRI-induced subcortical proteins during behavioral challenges with reference to models
similar to those of the present report. Indicate the advantages of using RtR23 and RtR57 for the
present purposes. How is this relevant to the authors' interest in mechanisms related to stress
and drug action? Based on the background information, what new data are you seeking by
means of the present study, and why is it important? Towards the end of the Introduction, a
clearly stated objective is necessary.
Overall, the introductory information should help to clarify the authors' motivation for carryingout these studies, the newness of the data and then highlight the potential importance of the
findings to the field.
Experimental methodology
The experimental section is very well written. However, several of the techniques raise some
issues that should be addressed.
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Prior to describing animal studies, please include a statement of approval from your institutional
committee on the ethical treatment of animals in research. Name the committee and the
institution.
The quantification method used for real-time PCR appears to be the deltadelta Ct method,
which is a standard method for relative quantification of transcript levels using real-time PCR.
The text statement is, "The cycle number for each candidate gene ...." If this is in fact the
deltadelta Ct method, it should be described as such to aid the reader's understanding and to
help ensure reproducibility. Please provide references. If that method was used, should the
"reference gene" be changed to the "reference sample"? Typically, there are two levels of
controls (the first is the internal control gene, the second is the comparison against the external
control sample).
In the current report the statistical methods are incorporated into other methods. The stats aremore clearly presented as a separate section towards the end of the Methods in which all
specific tests are listed. The P value for significance must be specified. Also please include the
statistical software package, the version and the manufacturer. Paired t tests may not be the
optimal statistical test of choice to properly assess significance of these data. Since data
presented (e.g., see Fig. 2) incorporate two variables (time [days] and drug) the authors might
consider a two-way ANOVA instead of paired t tests. The exclusive use of t-tests in the present
study may have led to overestimation of statistical significance. In this regard, the authors may
want to analyze their data once again.
Additional points to consider:The number of samples and number of repetitions per experiment and means are not indicated,
but should be (expressed as mean value S.D. (n = X)). Both "mM" and "mmol" as used units.
We suggest you convert everything to "mM" for consistency. Please reference methods when
details are not provided to ensure reproducibility.
Results
The results section is very comprehensive.
Significant changes can be highlighted in the text of the results (with P values indicated), but
avoid repeating the detailed data from the tables (as in current paragraphs 2, 4 and 8).
There are several statements (page 9) describing the side effects of both SNRI compounds at
doses that were higher than used in the first set of experiments (Figs. 1-4) although the
expression levels of markers remained relatively unchanged (Table 5, Fig 5). These additional
data are interesting and should be included in the Discussion.
The time points chosen for analysis appear insufficient to support the trend line shown for
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marker expression (Fig. 3). The authors extrapolated a straight line between 12 and 24 hours
but no data is shown. Overall, this time point expression data would be more convincing by
including measurements at baseline and 3 hour intervals up to 24 hours.
Finally, the results section should focus on DHC8 and DHC9, which are the main products of
interest. However, paragraph 7, which mentions DHC79 results "(data not shown)" seems out
of place and can be omitted.
Tables and figures
General comments:
The reader may find it difficult to understand the intended meaning of some figures because
legends are very brief or not included. Please make certain figure titles and legends clearly
describe the meaning of the data. The same is true of tables. Readers should be able to have a
general understanding of a figure or table without having to refer to the text.
Please check your journal instructions to see if the following are required for tables and figures
legends: all abbreviations defined once again; if significance is reported, the specific statistical
test for each analysis is indicated; P value for significance is included.
Specific comments:
* Figure 2: the axis labeled is missing (presumably "day"). In the legend clarify whether this is,
presumably, the day after first administration of drug.
* Figure 3: discussed above (Results).
* Figure 4: In Figure 4C, 300 pmol of RtR23 produces an effect of about 70% whereas in 4D
this same dose of RtR57 produces a little more than 80% effect (outside the range ofexperimental error). Given the similarities between the compounds, an explanation seems
necessary. The different results were not mentioned in the Results or discussed in the next
section.
* Figure 5: the bands are not identified. Please mark them on the figure and describe them in
the legend. Also, controls should be included in this figure.
* Figure 6: the legend does not state which assay was used to obtain the results.
Discussion
We suggest rewriting the first paragraph as a brief summary of results and how they address
the objective of the research. Subsequently, the authors should include a discussion of theirexperiments as compared to similar published studies. Comparisons between the authors' data
and published works should highlight similarities and differences when they occur, with possible
explanations for the latter. Include citations for all statements of fact.
The authors may want to consider including a direct comparison of data on the effects of RtR23
and RtR57 (behavioral, biological) since, although related structurally, these compounds did not
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consistently produce similar effects (a point for further study), which was mentioned above
(Figure 4).
Also high RtR doses (either one) that impacted behavior did not further affect expression levels
of HAPs. Is this a novel or unexpected finding? Is this observation contrary to the authors'
suggestion that the high abundance proteins they describe are relevant to stress or drug
action? What suggested mechanisms might explain these observations? Bear in mind,
however, that causality cannot be inferred from descriptive studies.
Conclusions
Currently, the paper lacks strong conclusions. The "Conclusions" listed at the end of the
Discussion are actually a summary of the results (which can be deleted). The Conclusion
section should try to convey the potential impact of your results in two to three sentences (i.e.,
summarize what the results mean rather than what the results are). What potential impact will
your data have on your area of study? Is it possible your results, potentially, will have relevance
to a clinical situation? Overall, the Conclusions section is the authors' opportunity to tell the
reader why the results are important.
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