Project description:Serotonin receptor 4 (5‑HT4R) plays an important role in regulating mood, anxiety, and cognition, and drugs that activate this receptor have fast-acting antidepressant (AD)-like effects in preclinical models. However, 5‑HT4R is widely expressed throughout the central nervous system (CNS) and periphery, making it difficult to pinpoint the cell types and circuits underlying its effects. Therefore, we generated a Cre-dependent 5‑HT4R knockout mouse line to dissect the function of 5‑HT4R in specific brain regions and cell types. We show that the loss of functional 5‑HT4R specifically from excitatory neurons of hippocampus led to robust AD-like behavioral responses and an elevation in baseline anxiety. 5‑HT4R was necessary to maintain the proper excitability of dentate gyrus (DG) granule cells and cell type specific molecular profiling revealed a dysregulation of genes necessary for normal neural function and plasticity in cells lacking 5‑HT4R. These adaptations were accompanied by an increase in the number of immature neurons in ventral, but not dorsal, dentate gyrus, indicating a broad impact of 5‑HT4R loss on the local cellular environment. This study is the first to use conditional genetic targeting to demonstrate a direct role for hippocampal 5‑HT4R signaling in modulating mood and anxiety. Our findings also underscore the need for cell type-based approaches to elucidate the complex action of neuromodulatory systems on distinct neural circuits.
Project description:Emerging evidence has shown that noncoding RNAs, particularly microRNAs (miRNAs), contribute to the pathogenesis of mood and anxiety disorders, although the molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we show altered levels of miR-17-92 in adult hippocampal neural progenitors have a significant impact in neurogenesis and anxiety- and depression-related behaviors in mice. miR-17-92 deletion in adult neural progenitors causes a decrease, while its overexpression an increase of neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus, through regulating genes in the glucocorticoid pathway, especially serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible protein kinase-1 (Sgk1). miR-17-92 knockout mice show anxiety- and depression-like behaviors, whereas miR-17-92 overexpressing mice exhibit anxiolytic and antidepression-like behaviors. Furthermore, we show that miR-17-92 expression in the adult mouse hippocampus responds to chronic stress, and miR-17-92 rescues proliferation defects, induced by corticosterone, in hippocampal neural progenitors. Our study uncovers a crucial role for miR-17-92 in adult neural progenitors to regulate neurogenesis and anxiety- and depression-like behaviors.
Project description:Both the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) have been implicated in maladaptive anxiety characteristic of anxiety disorders. However, the underlying circuit and cellular mechanisms have remained elusive. Here we show that mice with Erbb4 gene deficiency in somatostatin-expressing (SOM+) neurons exhibit heightened anxiety as measured in the elevated plus maze test and the open field test, two assays commonly used to assess anxiety-related behaviors in rodents. Using a combination of electrophysiological, molecular, genetic and pharmacological techniques we demonstrate that the abnormal anxiety in the mutant mice is caused by enhanced excitatory synaptic inputs onto SOM+ neurons in the central amygdala (CeA), and the resulting reduction in inhibition onto downstream SOM+ neurons in the BNST. Notably, our results indicate that an increase in dynorphin signaling in SOM+ CeA neurons mediates the paradoxical reduction in inhibition onto SOM+ BNST neurons, and that the consequent enhanced activity of SOM+ BNST neurons is both necessary for and sufficient to drive the elevated anxiety. Finally, we show that the elevated anxiety and the associated synaptic dysfunctions and increased dynorphin signaling in the CeA-BNST circuit of the Erbb4 mutant mice can be recapitulated by stress in wild-type mice. Together, our results unravel previously unknown circuit and cellular processes in the central extended amygdala that can cause maladaptive anxiety.
Project description:Serotonin-1A receptor (5HT1AR) is highly expressed in corticolimbic regions and its deficit has been associated with anxiety and depression. A similar reduction in 5HT1AR heterozygous knockout (Het) mice results in anxiety-like and increased stress-reactivity phenotypes. Here we describe immunological abnormalities in Het females, characterized by an activated state of innate and adaptive immune cells. Het males showed only limited immune dysregulation. Similar immune abnormalities were present in the genetically WT female (F1) but not in male offspring of Het mothers, indicating sex-specific immune system abnormalities that are unrelated to the individual’s receptor expression but instead dependent on the mother’s 5HT1AR deficit, known as a maternal genetic effect or “genetic nurture”. Studying the maternal-fetal interface by scRNA-seq revealed reduced immune cell invasion to the decidua and accelerated trophoblast migration that was normalized by term. Despite these phenotypes, 5HT1AR is not, or only minimally expressed in the immune system and placenta, raising the possibility of a central regulation of the immune system by highly expressed brain receptors. We conclude that 5HT1AR deficit, by altering the maternal immune system and midgestational in utero environment, leads to sex-biased outcomes, predominantly immune dysregulation in females and anxiety-like behavior in males.
Project description:The serotonin transporter (SERT), a member of the neurotransmitter:sodium symporter family, is responsible for termination of serotonergic signaling by re-uptake of serotonin (5-HT) into the presynaptic neuron. Its key role in synaptic transmission makes it a major drug target, e.g. for the treatment of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress. Here, we apply hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry to probe the conformational dynamics of human SERT in the absence and presence of known substrates and targeted drugs. Our results reveal significant changes in dynamics in regions TM1, EL3, EL4, and TM12 upon binding co-transported ions (Na+/K+) and ligand-mediated changes in TM1, EL3 and EL4 upon binding 5-HT, the drugs S-citalopram, cocaine and ibogaine. Our results provide a comprehensive direct view of the conformational response of SERT upon binding both biologically relevant substrate/ions and ligands of pharmaceutical interest, thus advancing our understanding of the structure-function relationship in SERT.
Project description:Despite studies providing insight into the neurobiology of chronic stress, depression and anxiety, long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)-mediated mechanisms underlying the common and distinct pathophysiology of these stress-induced disorders remain nonconclusive. In a previous study, we used the chronic mild stress paradigm to separate depression-susceptible, anxiety-susceptible and insusceptible rat subpopulations. In the current study, lncRNA and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression was comparatively profiled in the hippocampus of the three stress groups using microarray technology. Groupwise comparisons identified distinct sets of lncRNAs and mRNAs associated with the three different behavioral phenotypes of the stressed rats. To investigate the regulatory roles of the dysregulated lncRNAs upon mRNA expression, correlations between the differential lncRNAs and mRNAs were first analyzed by combined use of weighted gene coexpression network analysis and ceRNA theory-based methods. Subsequent functional analysis of strongly correlated mRNAs indicated that the dysregulated lncRNAs were involved in various biological pathways and processes to specifically induce rat susceptibility or resiliency to depression or anxiety. Further intersectional analysis of phenotype-associated and drug-associated lncRNA-mRNA networks and subnetworks assisted in identifying 16 hub lncRNAs as potential targets of anti-depression/anxiety drugs. Collectively, our study established the molecular basis for understanding the similarities and differences in pathophysiological mechanisms underlying stress-induced depression or anxiety and stress resiliency, revealing several important lncRNAs that represent potentially new therapeutic drug targets for depression and anxiety disorders.