Western blot analysis was performed as previously reported (Liu et al., 2015; Li et al., 2015). Three mice from each group were sacrificed after WMW test, and the hippocampal and cortical tissues were collected and homogenized in RIPA lysis buffer (1:5, w/v). Protein concentrations were determined by BCA protein assay kit. An aliquot of 45 µg of protein was applied for electrophoresis followed by the transferring of protein to the polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membranes. The membranes were blocked with 5% nonfat dry milk in TBST buffer for one hour at room temperature, and incubated with the primary antibody: anti-CNTF (1:1,000), BDNF (1:1,000), and GDNF (1:1,000) at 4 °C overnight. Next, HRP-labeled goat anti-rabbit IgG (Beyotime Biotechnology, Jiangsu, China; A0208, 1:2,000) was incubated with the membrane at room temperature for one hour. The blots were visualized using the enhanced ECL Western blot detection kit (7Sea Biotech, Shanghai, China) and scanned to Gel Imaging. The band intensity was quantified using Quantity One 1-D analysis software v4.52 (BioRad, Hercules, California, USA).