Project description:These are RNA sequencing data from embryonic day 18 whole brains from embryos whose mother's were exposed to alcohol (Prenatal alchohol exposure or PAE) or sacharin control (SAC) through mating and gestation.
Project description:We observed Csmd3-deficient mice exhibited growth retardation, atypical learning and memory behaviors. Futher, cortical neurons from mice lacking Csmd3 showed abnormal development. To identified the role of Csmd3 in cortex develepement, we performed whole transcriptome sequencing on embryonic 18 days cortex from Csmd3-/- and wild type mice. As a result, a total of 2133 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, including 1400 upregulated genes and 733 downregulated genes. Downregulated DEGs were mainly related to synaptic functions, while the upregulated DEGs were involved in multiple progresses related to cell-to-cell communication. In terms of cell type preference as referring to the single cell sequencing data in mouse neocortex at E18, downregulated DEGs were exlusively enriched into neurons and upregulated DEGs were involved with multiple cell types. Our study is the first detailed analyses of Csmd3 in development mouse cortex, identifing Csmd3 plays a pivotal role in synaptic organazation and transmission, also has an effect on glia-vascular inter-cellular communication.
Project description:Mice with mitochondrial complex I deficiency (Ndufs4-/-) suffer from severe energy impairment primarily affecting the brain and die at P55. A small molecule screen developed by our lab using cells harboring human mitochondrial disease mutations identified antibiotics targeting mitochondrial translation as potent inhibitors of cell death under nutrient stress conditions. Doxycycline, which was identified amongst these antibiotics, was administered in the diet of Ndufs4-/- mice after weaning at P21. Mice fed with doxycycline showed improved motor function and significantly increased lifespan relative to untreated Ndufs4-/- mice. In order to investigate the molecular changes promoted by doxycycline in the brains of these mice, Ndufs4-/- doxycycline treated (DOX), Ndufs4-/- untreated (KO), and Ndufs4+/+ (WT) control mice were sacrificed at P55 and their brains harvested. Proteomic analysis revealed doxycycline treatment largely prevented the neuroimmune and inflammatory profile identified in the Ndufs4-/- mice. These findings implicate a potentially causality of these proteins in the neuronal cell death ultimately leading to the observed brain pathology.
Project description:GW182 (Tnrc6a) is a key component of RISC (miRNA-Induced Silencing Complex) that plays a critical role in miRNA-mediated gene silencing. Here, we show that GW182 is expressed in the yolk sac endoderm, and that gene-trap disruption of GW182 leads to growth arrest of yolk sac endoderm, impaired hematopoiesis and embryonic lethality. To investigate roles of GW182 in the yolk sac endoderm, we assessed changes in mRNA expression in the yolk sac of E9.5 GW182gt/gt embryos using microarrays (Affymetrix). Yolk sac of wild type littermates and GW182gt/gt embryos at E9.5 was collected for total RNA isolation using Trizol (Invitrogen). RNAs were purified according to the manufacturer’s protocol before subjected to Mouse Gene 1.0 ST Whole Genome Array (Affymetrix) for mRNA expression profiling. Experiments were performed in triplicate. Differentially expressed mRNAs were identified using a two-sample t-test (P<0.05 considered significant).
Project description:Background: Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with alterations in numerous physiological systems, including the stress and immune systems. We have previously shown that PAE increases the course and severity of arthritis in an adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) model. While the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects are not fully known, changes in neural gene expression are emerging as important factors in the etiology of PAE effects. As the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus (HPC) play key roles in neuroimmune function, PAE-induced alterations to their transcriptome may underlie abnormal steady-state functions and responses to immune challenge. The current study examined brains from adult PAE and control females from our recent AA study to determine whether PAE causes long-term alterations in gene expression and whether these mediate the altered severity and course of arthritis in PAE females Methods: Adult females from PAE, pair-fed [PF], and ad libitum-fed control [C]) groups were injected with either saline or complete FreundM-bM-^@M-^Ys adjuvant. Animals were terminated at the peak of inflammation or during resolution (days 16 and 39 post-injection, respectively); cohorts of saline-injected PAE, PF and C females were terminated in parallel. Gene expression was analyzed in the PFC and HPC using whole genome mRNA expression microarrays. Results: Significant changes in gene expression in both the PFC and HPC were found in PAE compared to controls in response to ethanol exposure alone (saline-injected females), including genes involved in neurodevelopment, apoptosis, and energy metabolism. Moreover, in response to inflammation (adjuvant-injected females), PAE animals showed unique expression patterns, while failing to exhibit the activation of genes and regulators involved in the immune response observed in control and pair-fed animals. Conclusions: These results support the hypothesis that PAE affects neuroimmune function at the level of gene expression, demonstrating long-term effects of PAE on the CNS response under steady-state conditions and following an inflammatory insult. Key words: prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), ethanol, inflammation, arthritis, gene expression, rat. 192 samples, including 20 hybridization replicates