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Peripheral immune-derived matrix metalloproteinase promotes stress susceptibility

ABSTRACT: Psychosocial stress has profound effects on the body, including the peripheral immune system and the brain1,2. Although a large number of pre-clinical and clinical studies have linked peripheral immune system alterations to stress-related disorders such as major depressive disorder (MDD)3,4,5, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here we show that a myeloid cell-specific proteinase, matrix metalloproteinase 8 (MMP8), is elevated in serum from MDD subjects as well as in stress susceptible (SUS) mice following chronic social defeat stress (CSDS). In mice, we show that this increase leads to alterations in extracellular space and neurophysiological changes in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), thereby altering social behavior. Using a combination of mass cytometry and single-cell RNA-sequencing, we performed high-dimensional phenotyping of immune cells in circulation and brain and demonstrate that peripheral monocytes are strongly affected by stress. Both peripheral and brain infiltrating monocytes of SUS mice show increased expression of Mmp8 following CSDS. We further show that peripheral MMP8 directly infiltrates the NAc parenchyma to control ultrastructure of the extracellular space. Depleting MMP8 prevented stress-induced social avoidance behavior and alterations in NAc neurophysiology and extracellular space. Collectively, these data establish a novel mechanism by which peripheral immune factors can affect central nervous system function and behavior in the context of stress. Targeting specific peripheral immune cell-derived proteins, such as matrix metalloproteinases, could constitute novel therapeutic targets for stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE202662 | GEO | 2023/02/24

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Despite depression being one of the most prevalent and debilitating disorders worldwide, it has been difficult to understand its pathophysiology and to develop more effective treatments. Maladaptive transcriptional regulation within limbic neural circuits, including reward processing regions such as the nucleus accumbens (NAc), in response to chronic stress is thought to be a major contributor to the development of the syndrome. Epigenetic events?in particular, histone writers and erasers?that alter chromatin structure to regulate programs of gene expression have increasingly been associated with depression-related behavioral abnormalities in animal models and in depressed humans examined postmortem. However, very little is known about the ATP-dependent chromatin remodelers that control nucleosome positioning and the packing state of chromatin. Here we show that the ACF complex, part of the ISWI family of chromatin remodelers, is persistently and selectively upregulated in the NAc of mice that are susceptible to chronic social stress, as well as in the NAc of depressed human. We further establish that ACF induction is both necessary and sufficient for susceptibility to stress-induced depressive-like behaviors. Using ChIP-seq, we demonstrate that altered ACF binding after chronic stress is strongly correlated with altered nucleosome positioning, in particular, around the transcriptional start sites of affected genes. These alterations in ACF binding and nucleosome repositioning are associated with repressed expression of a subset of genes in animals that are susceptible to chronic stress. Together, these findings establish that active ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling by the ACF complex is a key regulator in the repression of genes that mediate susceptibility to social stress, and provide novel candidate targets for improved therapeutics of depression and other stress-related disorders. c57bl/6 mice underwent chronic social defeat stress (CSDS), and social interaction test was used to separate animals into control, susceptible and resilient groups. Nucleus accumbens (NAc) tissue was collected 48 hours after the last defeat session, and then Acf1, SNF2H ChIP-seq or H3 MNase-seq were performed based on the control, susceptible, and resilient groups. Three sequencing replicates were performed on each group.

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Peripheral immune-derived matrix metalloproteinase promotes stress susceptibility

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