Effect of maternal social isolation rearing (SIR) on adult offspring gene expression in the thalamus
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ABSTRACT: Antenatal depression affects 10–20 % of pregnancies worldwide and contributes to maternal morbidity, pre-term birth, and long-term neuropsychiatric vulnerability in children. Yet the neural circuits and molecular programs through which maternal mood disturbance shapes offspring brain development are poorly defined. Depression that predates conception and continues through pregnancy confers enduring vulnerability to mood and cognitive disorders in offspring, yet its neuroanatomical and molecular footprints remain elusive. To address this knowledge gap, we employed a model of prenatal depression based on social isolation rearing in female mice that induces a depressive-like phenotype before conception that persists during pregnancy. Female C57BL/6 N mice were subjected to social-isolation rearing (SIR) from weaning through gestation and lactation. Adult offspring underwent standard anxiety testing and thalamic bulk RNA sequencing. SIR offspring of both sexes exhibited pronounced anxiety in light–dark, open-field, Y-maze and novelty-suppressed-feeding assays. RNA sequencing uncovered extensive, sex-divergent transcriptional re-programming: males were enriched for pathways governing protein synthesis and synaptic organisation, whereas females showed signatures associated with neuronal plasticity and glial development.
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE304847 | GEO | 2026/08/14
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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