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Deckers C, Karbalaei R, Miles NA, Harder EV, Witt E, Harris EP, Reissner K, Wimmer ME, Bangasser DA. Early resource scarcity causes cortical astrocyte enlargement and sex-specific changes in the orbitofrontal cortex transcriptome in adult rats. Neurobiol Stress 2024; 29:100607. [PMID: 38304302 PMCID: PMC10831308 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2024.100607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2023] [Revised: 01/06/2024] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Astrocyte morphology affects function, including the regulation of glutamatergic signaling. This morphology changes dynamically in response to the environment. However, how early life manipulations alter adult cortical astrocyte morphology is underexplored. Our lab uses brief postnatal resource scarcity, the limited bedding and nesting (LBN) manipulation, in rats. We previously found that LBN augments maternal behaviors and promotes later resilience to adult addiction-related behaviors, reducing impulsivity, risky decision-making, and morphine self-administration. These behaviors rely on glutamatergic transmission in the medial orbitofrontal (mOFC) and medial prefrontal (mPFC) cortex. Here we tested whether LBN changed astrocyte morphology in the mOFC and mPFC of adult rats using a novel viral approach that, unlike traditional markers, fully labels astrocytes. Prior exposure to LBN causes an increase in the surface area and volume of astrocytes in the mOFC and mPFC of adult males and females relative to control-raised rats. We next used bulk RNA sequencing of OFC tissue to assess transcriptional changes that could increase astrocyte size in LBN rats. LBN caused mainly sex-specific changes in differentially expressed genes. Pathway analysis revealed that OFC glutamatergic signaling is altered by LBN in males and females, but the gene changes in that pathway differed across sex. This may represent a convergent sex difference where glutamatergic signaling, which affects astrocyte morphology, is altered by LBN via sex-specific mechanisms. Collectively, these studies highlight that astrocytes may be an important cell type that mediates the effect of early resource scarcity on adult brain function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire Deckers
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Reza Karbalaei
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Nylah A. Miles
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Eden V. Harder
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Emily Witt
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Erin P. Harris
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA
- Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA
| | - Kathryn Reissner
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Mathieu E. Wimmer
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Debra A. Bangasser
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA
- Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA
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Rojas-Cruz AF, Martín-Jiménez CA, González J, González-Giraldo Y, Pinzón AM, Barreto GE, Aristizábal-Pachón AF. Palmitic Acid Upregulates Type I Interferon-Mediated Antiviral Response and Cholesterol Biosynthesis in Human Astrocytes. Mol Neurobiol 2023; 60:4842-4854. [PMID: 37184765 PMCID: PMC10293381 DOI: 10.1007/s12035-023-03366-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 04/22/2023] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
Chronic intake of a high-fat diet increases saturated fatty acids in the brain causing the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. Palmitic acid is a free fatty acid abundant in the diet that at high concentrations may penetrate the blood-brain barrier and stimulate the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, leading to inflammation in astrocytes. The use of the synthetic neurosteroid tibolone in protection against fatty acid toxicity is emerging, but its transcriptional effects on palmitic acid-induced lipotoxicity remain unclear. Herein, we performed a transcriptome profiling of normal human astrocytes to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which palmitic acid causes cellular damage to astrocytes, and whether tibolone could reverse its detrimental effects. Astrocytes undergo a profound transcriptional change at 2 mM palmitic acid, affecting the expression of 739 genes, 366 upregulated and 373 downregulated. However, tibolone at 10 nM does not entirely reverse palmitic acid effects. Additionally, the protein-protein interaction reveals two novel gene clustering modules. The first module involves astrocyte defense responses by upregulation of pathways associated with antiviral innate immunity, and the second is linked to lipid metabolism. Our data suggest that activation of viral response signaling pathways might be so far, the initial molecular mechanism of astrocytes in response to a lipotoxic insult by palmitic acid, triggered particularly upon increased expression levels of IFIT2, IRF1, and XAF1. Therefore, this novel approach using a global gene expression analysis may shed light on the pleiotropic effects of palmitic acid on astrocytes, and provide a basis for future studies addressed to elucidate these responses in neurodegenerative conditions, which is highly valuable for the design of therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexis Felipe Rojas-Cruz
- Departamento de Nutrición Y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, 110231, Colombia
| | | | - Janneth González
- Departamento de Nutrición Y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, 110231, Colombia
| | - Yeimy González-Giraldo
- Departamento de Nutrición Y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, 110231, Colombia
| | - Andrés Mauricio Pinzón
- Laboratorio de Bioinformática Y Biología de Sistemas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, 110231, Colombia
| | - George E Barreto
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Limerick, V94 T9PX, Limerick, Ireland
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Puvogel S, Alsema A, Kracht L, Webster MJ, Weickert CS, Sommer IEC, Eggen BJL. Single-nucleus RNA sequencing of midbrain blood-brain barrier cells in schizophrenia reveals subtle transcriptional changes with overall preservation of cellular proportions and phenotypes. Mol Psychiatry 2022; 27:4731-4740. [PMID: 36192459 PMCID: PMC9734060 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-022-01796-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2022] [Revised: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The midbrain is an extensively studied brain region in schizophrenia, in view of its reported dopamine pathophysiology and neuroimmune changes associated with this disease. Besides the dopaminergic system, the midbrain contains other cell types that may be involved in schizophrenia pathophysiology. The neurovascular hypothesis of schizophrenia postulates that both the neurovasculature structure and the functioning of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) are compromised in schizophrenia. In the present study, potential alteration in the BBB of patients with schizophrenia was investigated by single-nucleus RNA sequencing of post-mortem midbrain tissue (15 schizophrenia cases and 14 matched controls). We did not identify changes in the relative abundance of the major BBB cell types, nor in the sub-populations, associated with schizophrenia. However, we identified 14 differentially expressed genes in the cells of the BBB in schizophrenia as compared to controls, including genes that have previously been related to schizophrenia, such as FOXP2 and PDE4D. These transcriptional changes were limited to the ependymal cells and pericytes, suggesting that the cells of the BBB are not broadly affected in schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofía Puvogel
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, section Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, section Molecular Neurobiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Astrid Alsema
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, section Molecular Neurobiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Laura Kracht
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, section Molecular Neurobiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Maree J Webster
- Laboratory of Brain Research, Stanley Medical Research Institute, Rockville, MD, USA
| | - Cynthia Shannon Weickert
- Schizophrenia Research Laboratory, Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Iris E C Sommer
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, section Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Bart J L Eggen
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, section Molecular Neurobiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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