Project description:Early-life adversities increase vulnerability to substance use disorders, which are characterized by persistent, uncontrollable drive to seek drugs, often leading to relapse. Previously, we reported that early social isolation (ESI) during adolescence potentiates heroin-seeking in mice. However, the underlying neurobiology remains unknown. Here, we found that ESI aggravated heroin-induced neuronal dysfunction in prelimbic cortex (PrL) to ventral tegmental area (VTA) projecting neurons. Activating PrL->VTA projection attenuated ESI-potentiated heroin seeking, alongside normalized neuronal function. RNA-seq revealed that ESI and heroin convergently altered genes regulating morphogenesis and metabolism, with Tmsb4x (thymosin β4) as a key gene. ESI and heroin interaction affected genes regulating cell cycle and DNA damage response, with Mcm3 and Mcm7 (minichromosome maintenance proteins 3/7) as hubs. PrL thymosin β4 infusion or CRISPR-Cas9-mediated PrL->VTA projection-specific Mcm3/7 knockdown attenuated ESI-potentiated heroin-seeking and neuronal hypofunction. Our study suggests that ESI-potentiated heroin relapse is associated with neuronal and transcriptional alterations in PrL->VTA projection.
Project description:Analysis of the ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR-5. A standard trypsin digest was carried out on the OVCAR-5 cell lysates which were then analysed in the un-fractionated and fractionated forms. Fractionation was completed using a peptide IEF separation method. All samples were analysed by nano-LC-ESI-MS/MS using a QTOF.
Project description:The 19 parent lines of the Arabidopsis thaliana MAGIC collection show significant differences in their root exudate profiles. Changes in metabolism were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization quadrupole time–of–flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS) untargeted in positive and negative mode, and targeted for a set of known metabolites.
Project description:We profile the transcriptional landscapes associated with acquisition of [ESI+], a prion scaffolded by Snt1, a core component of the Set3C histone deacetylase. We find that acquisition of [ESI+] leads to expression of otherwise silent, heterochromatic loci, proposing a new molecular means by which silent transcriptional states might be reversed.
Project description:The purpose of this study is to determine if ginger root extract when taken daily for 28 days is able to decrease levels of inflammatory chemicals called eicosanoids in the gut tissue of people who are at normal risk and those at increased of developing colorectal cancer compared to people taking placebo.