Epigenetic modifications of GABAergic interneurons are associated with the schizophrenia-like phenotype induced by prenatal stress in mice.
TL;DR: Preliminary data show that prenatal stress in mice induces abnormalities in the DNA methylation network and in behaviors indicative of a schizophrenia-like phenotype, and PRS mice may be a valid model for the investigation of new drugs for schizophrenia treatment targetingDNA methylation.
About: This article is published in Neuropharmacology.The article was published on 2013-05-01 and is currently open access. It has received 240 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Reelin & Prenatal stress.
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TL;DR: The evidence of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of stress exposure in human studies and animal models is discussed and it is proposed that prenatal stress, through the generation of epigenetic alterations, becomes one of the most powerful influences on mental health in later life.
392 citations
TL;DR: Meta-analyses of structural MRI studies revealing hippocampal volume deficits in first-episode patients and in the longitudinal disease course confirm the neurodevelopmental hypothesis, which proposes schizophrenia to be related to genetic and environmental factors leading to abnormal brain development during the pre- or postnatal period.
Abstract: During the last decades, schizophrenia has been regarded as a developmental disorder. The neurodevelopmental hypothesis proposes schizophrenia to be related to genetic and environmental factors leading to abnormal brain development during the pre- or postnatal period. First disease symptoms appear in early adulthood during the synaptic pruning and myelination process. Meta-analyses of structural MRI studies revealing hippocampal volume deficits in first-episode patients and in the longitudinal disease course confirm this hypothesis. Apart from the influence of risk genes in severe psychiatric disorders, environmental factors may also impact brain development during the perinatal period. Several environmental factors such as antenatal maternal virus infections, obstetric complications entailing hypoxia as common factor or stress during neurodevelopment have been identified to play a role in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, possibly contributing to smaller hippocampal volumes. In major depression, psychosocial stress during the perinatal period or in adulthood is an important trigger. In animal studies, chronic stress or repeated administration of glucocorticoids have been shown to induce degeneration of glucocorticoid-sensitive hippocampal neurons and may contribute to the pathophysiology of affective disorders. Epigenetic mechanisms altering the chromatin structure such as histone acetylation and DNA methylation may mediate effects of environmental factors to transcriptional regulation of specific genes and be a prominent factor in gene-environmental interaction. In animal models, gene-environmental interaction should be investigated more intensely to unravel pathophysiological mechanisms. These findings may lead to new therapeutic strategies influencing epigenetic targets in severe psychiatric disorders.
264 citations
Cites background from "Epigenetic modifications of GABAerg..."
...After prenatal stress in mice, abnormalities in DNA methylation have been described in GABAergic neurons and been related to a schizophrenia-like behavioral phenotype (Matrisciano et al., 2013)....
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TL;DR: Understanding of altered CpG methylation, hydroxymethylation, and active DNA demethylation provide a framework for the identification of new targets, which may be exploited for the pharmacological intervention of the psychosis associated with SZ and possibly BP+.
250 citations
Cites background from "Epigenetic modifications of GABAerg..."
...Mice exposed to stress in utero exhibit altered biochemical features and behaviors reminiscent of morbidities encountered in SZ and BP+ patients after reaching adulthood (Matrisciano et al, 2011, 2012a)....
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...…brain function have yet to be elucidated, recent studies support the view that early life stresses alter processes associated with chromatin remodeling such that transcriptional regulation is abnormal in distinct anatomical structures of the brain (Matrisciano et al, 2012a; McGowan et al, 2011)....
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TL;DR: Increasing Reelin expression through pharmacological therapies may help ameliorate symptoms resulting from Reelin deficits, as part of the Special Issue entitled 'Neurodevelopmental Disorders'.
241 citations
TL;DR: A progress report of epigenetic studies of the three major psychiatric syndromes, depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder is provided, derived from animal models of these disorders as well as from studies of postmortem brain tissue from human patients.
Abstract: Psychiatric disorders are complex multifactorial illnesses involving chronic alterations in neural circuit structure and function as well as likely abnormalities in glial cells. While genetic factors are important in the etiology of most mental disorders, the relatively high rates of discordance among identical twins, particularly for depression and other stress-related syndromes, clearly indicate the importance of additional mechanisms. Environmental factors such as stress are known to play a role in the onset of these illnesses. Exposure to such environmental insults induces stable changes in gene expression, neural circuit function, and ultimately behavior, and these maladaptations appear distinct between developmental versus adult exposures. Increasing evidence indicates that these sustained abnormalities are maintained by epigenetic modifications in specific brain regions. Indeed, transcriptional dysregulation and the aberrant epigenetic regulation that underlies this dysregulation is a unifying theme in psychiatric disorders. Here, we provide a progress report of epigenetic studies of the three major psychiatric syndromes, depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. We review the literature derived from animal models of these disorders as well as from studies of postmortem brain tissue from human patients. While epigenetic studies of mental illness remain at early stages, understanding how environmental factors recruit the epigenetic machinery within specific brain regions to cause lasting changes in disease susceptibility and pathophysiology is revealing new insight into the etiology and treatment of these conditions.
234 citations
References
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TL;DR: Convergent findings indicate that a deficiency in signalling through the TrkB neurotrophin receptor leads to reduced GABA synthesis in the parvalbumin-containing subpopulation of inhibitory GABA neurons in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of individuals with schizophrenia.
Abstract: Impairments in certain cognitive functions, such as working memory, are core features of schizophrenia. Convergent findings indicate that a deficiency in signalling through the TrkB neurotrophin receptor leads to reduced GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) synthesis in the parvalbumin-containing subpopulation of inhibitory GABA neurons in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of individuals with schizophrenia. Despite both pre- and postsynaptic compensatory responses, the resulting alteration in perisomatic inhibition of pyramidal neurons contributes to a diminished capacity for the gamma-frequency synchronized neuronal activity that is required for working memory function. These findings reveal specific targets for therapeutic interventions to improve cognitive function in individuals with schizophrenia.
2,153 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that impaired growth in infancy and rapid childhood weight gain exacerbate the effects of impaired prenatal growth, and a new vision of optimal early human development is emerging which takes account of both short and long-term outcomes.
Abstract: Low birthweight is now known to be associated with increased rates of coronary heart disease and the related disorders stroke, hypertension and non-insulin dependent diabetes. These associations have been extensively replicated in studies in different countries and are not the result of confounding variables. They extend across the normal range of birthweight and depend on lower birthweights in relation to the duration of gestation rather than the effects of premature birth. The associations are thought to be consequences of developmental plasticity, the phenomenon by which one genotype can give rise to a range of different physiological or morphological states in response to different environmental conditions during development. Recent observations have shown that impaired growth in infancy and rapid childhood weight gain exacerbate the effects of impaired prenatal growth. A new vision of optimal early human development is emerging which takes account of both short and long-term outcomes.
1,539 citations
TL;DR: A map of GFP distribution in the knock‐in mouse brain is constructed and many medium‐sized spherical somata emitting intense GFP fluorescence were observed in layer I, in accord with unidentified GFP‐positive cells.
Abstract: Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurons in the central nervous system regulate the activity of other neurons and play a crucial role in information processing. To assist an advance in the research of GABAergic neurons, here we produced two lines of glutamic acid decarboxylase-green fluorescence protein (GAD67-GFP) knock-in mouse. The distribution pattern of GFP-positive somata was the same as that of the GAD67 in situ hybridization signal in the central nervous system. We encountered neither any apparent ectopic GFP expression in GAD67-negative cells nor any apparent lack of GFP expression in GAD67-positive neurons in the two GAD67-GFP knock-in mouse lines. The timing of GFP expression also paralleled that of GAD67 expression. Hence, we constructed a map of GFP distribution in the knock-in mouse brain. Moreover, we used the knock-in mice to investigate the colocalization of GFP with NeuN, calretinin (CR), parvalbumin (PV), and somatostatin (SS) in the frontal motor cortex. The proportion of GFP-positive cells among NeuN-positive cells (neocortical neurons) was approximately 19.5%. All the CR-, PV-, and SS-positive cells appeared positive for GFP. The CR-, PV, and SS-positive cells emitted GFP fluorescence at various intensities characteristics to them. The proportions of CR-, PV-, and SS-positive cells among GFP-positive cells were 13.9%, 40.1%, and 23.4%, respectively. Thus, the three subtypes of GABAergic neurons accounted for 77.4% of the GFP-positive cells. They accounted for 6.5% in layer I. In accord with unidentified GFP-positive cells, many medium-sized spherical somata emitting intense GFP fluorescence were observed in layer I.
1,214 citations
TL;DR: The selective down-regulation of RELN and GAD(67) in prefrontal cortex of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder who have psychosis is consistent with the hypothesis that these parameters are vulnerability factors in psychosis; this plus the loss of the correlation between these 2 parameters that exists in nonpsychotic subjects support the hypotheses that these changes may be liability factors underlying psychosis.
Abstract: Background Reelin (RELN) is a glycoprotein secreted preferentially by cortical γ-aminobutyric acid-ergic (GABAergic) interneurons (layers I and II) that binds to integrin receptors located on dendritic spines of pyramidal neurons or on GABAergic interneurons of layers III through V expressing the disabled-1 gene product (DAB1), a cytosolic adaptor protein that mediates RELN action. To replicate earlier findings that RELN and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) 67 , but not DAB1 expression, are down-regulated in schizophrenic brains, and to verify whether other psychiatric disorders express similar deficits, we analyzed, blind, an entirely new cohort of 60 postmortem brains, including equal numbers of patients matched for schizophrenia, unipolar depression, and bipolar disorder with nonpsychiatric subjects. Methods Reelin, GAD 65 , GAD 67 , DAB1, and neuron-specific–enolase messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and respective proteins were measured with quantitative reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) or Western blot analyses. Reelin-positive neurons were identified by immunohistochemistry using a monoclonal antibody. Results Prefrontal cortex and cerebellar expression of RELN mRNA, GAD 67 protein and mRNA, and prefrontal cortex RELN-positive cells was significantly decreased by 30% to 50% in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder with psychosis, but not in those with unipolar depression without psychosis when compared with nonpsychiatric subjects. Group differences were absent for DAB1,GAD 65 and neuron-specific–enolase expression implying that RELN and GAD 67 down-regulations were unrelated to neuronal damage. Reelin and GAD 67 were also unrelated to postmortem intervals, dose, duration, or presence of antipsychotic medication. Conclusions The selective down-regulation of RELN and GAD 67 in prefrontal cortex of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder who have psychosis is consistent with the hypothesis that these parameters are vulnerability factors in psychosis; this plus the loss of the correlation between these 2 parameters that exists in nonpsychotic subjects support the hypothesis that these changes may be liability factors underlying psychosis.
1,180 citations
TL;DR: It is found that neuronal activity controlled the ability of MeCP2 to regulate activity-dependent transcription of the Avp gene and induced epigenetic marking, which can dynamically control DNA methylation in postmitotic neurons to generate stable changes in Avp expression that trigger neuroendocrine and behavioral alterations that are frequent features in depression.
Abstract: Adverse early life events can induce long-lasting changes in physiology and behavior. We found that early-life stress (ELS) in mice caused enduring hypersecretion of corticosterone and alterations in passive stress coping and memory. This phenotype was accompanied by a persistent increase in arginine vasopressin (AVP) expression in neurons of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus and was reversed by an AVP receptor antagonist. Altered Avp expression was associated with sustained DNA hypomethylation of an important regulatory region that resisted age-related drifts in methylation and centered on those CpG residues that serve as DNA-binding sites for the methyl CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2). We found that neuronal activity controlled the ability of MeCP2 to regulate activity-dependent transcription of the Avp gene and induced epigenetic marking. Thus, ELS can dynamically control DNA methylation in postmitotic neurons to generate stable changes in Avp expression that trigger neuroendocrine and behavioral alterations that are frequent features in depression.
1,132 citations