Disruption of the Placenta-Brain Axis in Transgenic Mice Lacking Serotonin Transporter (SERT) in Trophoblast Cell
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PROVIDER: PRJNA1300422 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
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Project description:Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are commonly prescribed drugs to pregnant women experiencing depression. While such drugs might be beneficial in combating depression by competitively binding to serotonin transporter (SERT), they can adversely affect the placenta and fetal brain development. Parietal trophoblast giant cells (pTGCs) in the mouse placenta are postulated to internalize maternal serotonin (5-HT) via transport through SERT, encoded by Slc6a4. The placenta provides the initial source of 5-HT to the emerging brain via the placental-brain axis. Disruption of 5-HT acquisition by pTGCs due to genetic deletion of Slc6a4 is hypothesized to impact placental and fetal brain development. A transgenic mouse line with the SERT transporter selectively deleted was created by pairing mice with Cre-recombinase linked to proliferin (Prl2c2) with LoxP sites flanking the Slc6a4 gene. Proliferin is solely expressed by pTGCs and other giant cells of the placenta. To compare placental and fetal brain development in selective Sl6a4 KO and WT mice, 5-HT content in the placenta and fetal brains of the mice was measured. No significant differences in 5-HT content were evident between knockout (KO) and wild-type (WT) placenta and fetal brain. However, there was significantly lower average number of pTGCs in KO placentas compared to WT (p ≤ 0.05). Sexually dimorphic differences in gene expression were evident in the placenta and fetal brain between KO and WT counterparts with female conceptuses showing the most dramatic responses. Findings suggest that ablation of SERT in pTGC disrupts the placenta-brain axis in a sex-dependent manner. These results might have important clinical ramifications for pregnant women being treated with SSRIs.
2025-08-02 | GSE304347 | GEO
Project description:Identifying new immune checkpoint molecules hindering antitumor T cell responses and devising new therapeutic blockades are key to the development of next-generation cancer immunotherapies. Here, we report the induction of the serotonin transporter (SERT) in solid tumor-infiltrating cytotoxic CD8 T cells, a molecule best known for its role in regulating serotonin neurotransmission in the brain. In solid tumors, CD8 T cells secrete serotonin, which stimulates their antitumor reactivities, while SERT functions as a negative regulator by depleting intratumoral serotonin. Inhibition of SERT using clinically approved selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a popular class of antidepressants, significantly suppressed tumor growth and enhanced CD8 T cell-mediated antitumor responses in various preclinical mouse syngeneic and human xenograft tumor models. Importantly, SSRI treatment exhibited significant therapeutic synergy with anti-PD-1 therapy, and clinical data correlation studies negatively associated intratumoral SERT expression with patient survival in a range of cancers. These findings highlight the significance of the intratumoral serotonin axis and identify SERT as a novel immune checkpoint, positioning SSRIs as promising candidates for next-generation combination cancer therapies.
2025-05-27 | GSE262781 | GEO
Project description:The serotonin (5-HT) transporter (SERT) is a key determinant of the concentration of 5-HT available for synaptic signaling and is the target of the antidepressant-selective 5-HT reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). In addition to the role of SERT in mediating the actions of antidepressant medications, multiple, rare gain of function coding variants in SERT have been identified in subjects with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Blakely lab has extensively characterized the structural and functional impact of one of these variants, SERT Ala56, in vitro and in vivo, revealing a constitutively-imposed, biased conformation that enhances transporter function and that perturbs transporter regulation. We hypothesize that SERT Ala56 disrupts the interactions of molecular networks that normally ensure proper transporter structure, localization and regulation, and whose elucidation may reveal new determinants of serotonergic dysfunction in ASD. Here, we pursue an unbiased proteomic analysis of changes in SERT interacting protein (SIPs) imposed by the SERT Ala56 variant, expressed in transgenic mice. Further investigation of the SIPs and associated networks nominated through our studies may provide new opportunities to detect and modulate brain networks that contribute to the underlying complexity of ASD.
2020-05-29 | PXD018695 | Pride
Project description:Loss of specialized neurons in neurodegenerative diseases and after nerve injury is mediated in a neuronal subtype- and region-specific fashion. However, little is known about what molecular contexts define selective vulnerability. Here, we demonstrate that retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the mouse peripheral ventrotemporal (VT) retina are the most susceptible to optic nerve injury. Mechanistically, we show that the ventral-specific molecule, the serotonin transporter (SERT) is upregulated on VT axons within one day after injury and loss of SERT attenuates VT RGC death and promotes axon regeneration. From RNA-seq analysis, the transmembrane protein Gpnmb has been identified as a target downregulated by SERT. Moreover, GPNMB is involved in RGC protection and axon regeneration. Together, our studies reveal the serotonin transporter as a determinant of selective vulnerability.
2020-07-11 | GSE153812 | GEO
Project description:Brain development requires appropriate regulation of serotonin (5-HT) signaling from distinct tissue sources across embryogenesis. At the maternal-fetal interface, the placenta is thought to be an important contributor of offspring brain 5-HT and is critical to overall fetal health. Yet, how placental 5-HT is acquired, and the mechanisms through which 5-HT influences placental functions, are not well understood. Recently, our group identified a novel epigenetic role for 5-HT, in which 5-HT can be added to histone proteins to regulate transcription, a process called H3 serotonylation. Here, we show that H3 serotonylation undergoes dynamic regulation during placental development, corresponding to gene expression changes that are known to influence key metabolic processes. Using transgenic mice, we demonstrate that placental H3 serotonylation largely depends on 5-HT uptake by the serotonin transporter (Sert/Slc6a4). Sert deletion robustly reduces enrichment of H3 serotonylation across the placental genome, and disrupts neurodevelopmental gene networks in offspring brain tissues. Thus, these findings suggest a novel role for H3 serotonylation in coordinating placental transcription at the intersection of maternal physiology and offspring brain development.
2024-01-23 | GSE246539 | GEO
Project description:Brain development requires appropriate regulation of serotonin (5-HT) signaling from distinct tissue sources across embryogenesis. At the maternal-fetal interface, the placenta is thought to be an important contributor of offspring brain 5-HT and is critical to overall fetal health. Yet, how placental 5-HT is acquired, and the mechanisms through which 5-HT influences placental functions, are not well understood. Recently, our group identified a novel epigenetic role for 5-HT, in which 5-HT can be added to histone proteins to regulate transcription, a process called H3 serotonylation. Here, we show that H3 serotonylation undergoes dynamic regulation during placental development, corresponding to gene expression changes that are known to influence key metabolic processes. Using transgenic mice, we demonstrate that placental H3 serotonylation largely depends on 5-HT uptake by the serotonin transporter (Sert/Slc6a4). Sert deletion robustly reduces enrichment of H3 serotonylation across the placental genome, and disrupts neurodevelopmental gene networks in offspring brain tissues. Thus, these findings suggest a novel role for H3 serotonylation in coordinating placental transcription at the intersection of maternal physiology and offspring brain development.
2024-01-23 | GSE246538 | GEO
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.
2019-05-15 | PXD013750 | Pride
Project description:We performed a comprehensive survey of DR and MR serotonin neurons in the adult mouse brain by scRNA-seq. To specifically label serotonin neurons, we crossed Sert-Cre mice (Gong et al., 2007) with the tdTomato Cre reporter mouse, Ai14 (Madisen et al., 2010). (Serotonin transporter, or Sert, is a marker for serotonin neurons; see more details below.) We collected serotonin neurons acutely dissociated from brain slices by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and used Smart-seq2 (Picelli et al., 2013) to generate scRNA-seq libraries.
2019-08-01 | GSE135132 | GEO
Project description:The serotonin transporter, SERT, catalyzes serotonin reuptake at the synapse to terminate neurotransmission via an alternating access mechanism, and SERT inhibitors are the most widely prescribed antidepressants. Here, deep mutagenesis is used to determine the effects of nearly all amino acid substitutions on human SERT surface expression and transport of the fluorescent substrate analogue APP+, identifying many mutations that enhance APP+ import. Comprehensive simulations of the entire ion-coupled import process reveal that while binding of the native substrate, serotonin, reduces free energy barriers between conformational states to promote SERT dynamics, the conformational free energy landscape in the presence of APP+ instead resembles Na+ bound-SERT, with a higher free energy barrier for isomerization to an inward-facing state. The deep mutational scan for SERT-catalyzed import of APP+ finds mutations that promote the necessary conformational changes that would otherwise be facilitated by the native substrate. Indeed, hundreds of gain-of-function mutations for APP+ import are found along the permeation pathway, most notably mutations that favor opening of a solvent-exposed intracellular vestibule. The mutagenesis data support the simulated mechanism in which the neurotransmitter and a symported sodium share a common cytosolic exit pathway to achieve coupling. Furthermore, the mutational landscape for SERT surface trafficking, which likely filters out misfolded sequences, reveals that residues along the permeation pathway are mutationally tolerant, providing plausible evolutionary pathways for changes in transporter properties while maintaining folded structure.
2019-07-31 | GSE109499 | GEO
Project description:The serotonin transporter (SERT, SLC6A4), belonging to Na+ and Cl- dependent transporters, functions to regulate the availability of serotonin (5-HT) in various tissues including brain, platelets, and intestine. Alterations in 5-HT levels and/or SERT expression have been implicated in pathophysiological conditions including anxiety-like behavior, obesity, cardiovascular disorders and GI disorders such as IBD, IBS, and diarrhea. Accordingly, SERT deficiency in mice is pleiotropic with many different phenotypic traits. Transgenic mice with global deletion of SERT exhibit increased anxiety, abnormal GI motility, and obesity associated with hyperglycemia. Additionally, these mice are more susceptible to intestinal inflammation. The mechanism by which SERT deficiency underlies GI related disturbances and exacerbates the severity of gut inflammation is not known. Thus, we evaluated the ileal mRNA expression to identify potential intestinal targets that contribute to disease pathogenesis when the SERT gene is non-functional. For these studies, RNA was extracted from ileum mucosa from age matched (9-10 wk) control and SERT KO mice by Trizol and was subjected to Mouse mRNA and OneArray Profiling. Our microarray data revealed 492 significantly upregulated and 293 downregulated genes in SERT KO ileum. Pathway analysis revealed significant enrichment in cell cycle, signaling, chemotaxis, and epithelial transporters. Genes of interest were validated by RT-PCR, which included CYP1A1 (~20 fold decrease, p < 0.05), CLDN8 (~30% decrease, p < 0.05), and HMGCS2 (~7 fold increase, p < 0.05). Similar changes were found in colon. A remarkable decrease in expression of Cyp1a1, which encodes a cytochrome P450 enzyme, provides a novel role of serotonergic pathways in drug and xenobiotic detoxification. CLDN8 encodes for claudin 8, which is downregulated in patients with Crohn’s disease. Deficiency of HMGCS2, the mitochondrial 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA synthase, is linked to hypoglycemia. Our data provides novel clues for differential expression of genes affected by 5-HT and/or SERT deficiency in the intestine.
2017-11-08 | GSE93534 | GEO