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Sex differences in behavioral and brainstem transcriptomic neuroadaptations following neonatal opioid exposure in outbred mice

ABSTRACT: The Opioid Use Disorder epidemic led to an increase in cases of Nenonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (NOWS) in infants born to opioid-dependent mothers. Hallmark features include weight loss, irritability, inconsolability, insomnia, and increased pain sensitivity. The neurobiological basis of NOWS is largely unknown. Improved mouse models will facilitate mechanistic and treatment discovery. We treated neonatal outbred Cartworth Farms White (CFW) mice (Swiss Webster) with morphine sulfate (15 mg/kg, s.c.) twice daily on postnatal day (P)1 through P14, the approximate third trimester-equivalent of human gestation. Weight loss was monitored and behavioral symptoms were measured on P7 and P14 at 16 h post-morphine. Brainstem containing pons and medulla was collected on P14 and processed for transcriptome analysis via mRNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Morphine induced weight loss from P2 to P14 that remained at P21 and P50. Repeated morphine also induced a delayed self-righting latency at P4 and a persistent, female-specific delay at P14. Morphine-treated females also showed an earlier increase in ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) on P7. Both morphine-treated sexes showed a large increase in USVs on P14. Furthermore, thermal nociception via hot plate and tail withdrawal assays indicated that mice exhibited thermal hyperalgesia on P7 and P14, with females showing greater hyperalgesia (tail withdrawal) on P7. Morphine-treated mice also exhibited anxiety-like behavior at P21 (open field). Finally, brainstem transcriptome analysis identified a canonical gene set relevant to opioid signaling in males and a distinct gene set in females that was enriched for ribosomal proteins, mitochondrial function and neurodegenerative disorders. Sex-specific transcriptomic neuroadaptations implicate sex-specific treatments.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE141066 | GEO | 2019/11/27

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Opioids analgesics are frequently prescribed in the United States and worldwide. However, serious side effects such as addiction, immunosuppression and gastrointestinal symptoms limit their use. It has been recently demonstrated that morphine treatment results in significant disruption in gut barrier function leading to increased translocation of gut commensal bacteria. Further study indicated distinct alterations in the gut microbiome and metabolome following morphine treatment, contributing to the negative consequences associated with opioid use. However, it is unclear how opioids modulate gut homeostasis in the context of a hospital acquired bacterial infection. In the current study, a mouse model of C. rodentium infection was used to investigate the role of morphine in the modulation of gut homeostasis in the context of a hospital acquired bacterial infection. Citrobacter rodentium is a natural mouse pathogen that models intestinal infection by enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) and causes attaching and effacing lesions and colonic hyperplasia. Morphine treatment resulted in 1) the promotion of C. rodentium systemic dissemination, 2) increase in virulence factors expression with C. rodentium colonization in intestinal contents, 3) altered gut microbiome, 4) damaged integrity of gut epithelial barrier function, 5) inhibition of C. rodentium-induced increase in goblet cells, and 6) dysregulated IL-17A immune response. This is the first study to demonstrate that morphine promotes pathogen dissemination in the context of intestinal C. rodentium infection, indicating morphine modulates virulence factor-mediated adhesion of pathogenic bacteria and induces disruption of mucosal host defense during C. rodentium intestinal infection in mice. This study demonstrates and further validates a positive correlation between opioid drug use/abuse and increased risk of infections, suggesting over-prescription of opioids may increase the risk in the emergence of pathogenic strains and should be used cautiously. Therapeutics directed at maintaining gut homeostasis during opioid use may reduce the comorbidities associated with opioid use for pain management.

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Sex differences in behavioral and brainstem transcriptomic neuroadaptations following neonatal opioid exposure in outbred mice

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