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Circle(s) of Life: The Circadian Clock from Birth to Death. BIOLOGY 2023; 12:biology12030383. [PMID: 36979075 PMCID: PMC10045474 DOI: 10.3390/biology12030383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Revised: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/03/2023]
Abstract
Most lifeforms on earth use endogenous, so-called circadian clocks to adapt to 24-h cycles in environmental demands driven by the planet’s rotation around its axis. Interactions with the environment change over the course of a lifetime, and so does regulation of the circadian clock system. In this review, we summarize how circadian clocks develop in humans and experimental rodents during embryonic development, how they mature after birth and what changes occur during puberty, adolescence and with increasing age. Special emphasis is laid on the circadian regulation of reproductive systems as major organizers of life segments and life span. We discuss differences in sexes and outline potential areas for future research. Finally, potential options for medical applications of lifespan chronobiology are discussed.
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Gerstner N, Krontira AC, Cruceanu C, Roeh S, Pütz B, Sauer S, Rex-Haffner M, Schmidt MV, Binder EB, Knauer-Arloth J. DiffBrainNet: Differential analyses add new insights into the response to glucocorticoids at the level of genes, networks and brain regions. Neurobiol Stress 2022; 21:100496. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2022.100496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2022] [Revised: 09/25/2022] [Accepted: 10/13/2022] [Indexed: 10/31/2022] Open
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Caradonna SG, Zhang TY, O’Toole N, Shen MJ, Khalil H, Einhorn NR, Wen X, Parent C, Lee FS, Akil H, Meaney MJ, McEwen BS, Marrocco J. Genomic modules and intramodular network concordance in susceptible and resilient male mice across models of stress. Neuropsychopharmacology 2022; 47:987-999. [PMID: 34848858 PMCID: PMC8938529 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-021-01219-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2021] [Revised: 09/28/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The multifactorial etiology of stress-related disorders necessitates a constant interrogation of the molecular convergences in preclinical models of stress that use disparate paradigms as stressors spanning from environmental challenges to genetic predisposition to hormonal signaling. Using RNA-sequencing, we investigated the genomic signatures in the ventral hippocampus common to mouse models of stress. Chronic oral corticosterone (CORT) induced increased anxiety- and depression-like behavior in wild-type male mice and male mice heterozygous for the gene coding for brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met, a variant associated with genetic susceptibility to stress. In a separate set of male mice, chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) led to a susceptible or a resilient population, whose proportion was dependent on housing conditions, namely standard housing or enriched environment. Rank-rank-hypergeometric overlap (RRHO), a threshold-free approach that ranks genes by their p value and effect size direction, was used to identify genes from a continuous gradient of significancy that were concordant across groups. In mice treated with CORT and in standard-housed susceptible mice, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were concordant for gene networks involved in neurotransmission, cytoskeleton function, and vascularization. Weighted gene co-expression analysis generated 54 gene hub modules and revealed two modules in which both CORT and CSDS-induced enrichment in DEGs, whose function was concordant with the RRHO predictions, and correlated with behavioral resilience or susceptibility. These data showed transcriptional concordance across models in which the stress coping depends upon hormonal, environmental, or genetic factors revealing common genomic drivers that embody the multifaceted nature of stress-related disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Salvatore G. Caradonna
- grid.134907.80000 0001 2166 1519Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY USA
| | - Tie-Yuan Zhang
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC Canada
| | - Nicholas O’Toole
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC Canada
| | - Mo-Jun Shen
- grid.452264.30000 0004 0530 269XSingapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Huzefa Khalil
- grid.214458.e0000000086837370Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA
| | - Nathan R. Einhorn
- grid.134907.80000 0001 2166 1519Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY USA
| | - Xianglan Wen
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC Canada
| | - Carine Parent
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC Canada
| | - Francis S. Lee
- grid.5386.8000000041936877XDepartment of Psychiatry, Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY USA
| | - Huda Akil
- grid.214458.e0000000086837370Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA
| | - Michael J. Meaney
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC Canada ,grid.452264.30000 0004 0530 269XSingapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Singapore, Singapore ,grid.4280.e0000 0001 2180 6431Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Singapore, Singapore ,grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Sackler Program for Epigenetics & Psychobiology, McGill University, Montreal, QC Canada
| | - Bruce S. McEwen
- grid.134907.80000 0001 2166 1519Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY USA
| | - Jordan Marrocco
- Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
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Zieglgänsberger W, Brenneisen R, Berthele A, Wotjak CT, Bandelow B, Tölle TR, Lutz B. Chronic Pain and the Endocannabinoid System: Smart Lipids - A Novel Therapeutic Option? Med Cannabis Cannabinoids 2022; 5:61-75. [PMID: 35702403 PMCID: PMC9149512 DOI: 10.1159/000522432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2021] [Accepted: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 08/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The development of a high-end cannabinoid-based therapy is the result of intense translational research, aiming to convert recent discoveries in the laboratory into better treatments for patients. Novel compounds and new regimes for drug treatment are emerging. Given that previously unreported signaling mechanisms for cannabinoids have been uncovered, clinical studies detailing their high therapeutic potential are mandatory. The advent of novel genomic, optogenetic, and viral tracing and imaging techniques will help to further detail therapeutically relevant functional and structural features. An evolutionarily highly conserved group of neuromodulatory lipids, their receptors, and anabolic and catabolic enzymes are involved in a remarkable variety of physiological and pathological processes and has been termed the endocannabinoid system (ECS). A large body of data has emerged in recent years, pointing to a crucial role of this system in the regulation of the behavioral domains of acquired fear, anxiety, and stress-coping. Besides neurons, also glia cells and components of the immune system can differentially fine-tune patterns of neuronal activity. Dysregulation of ECS signaling can lead to a lowering of stress resilience and increased incidence of psychiatric disorders. Chronic pain may be understood as a disease process evoked by fear-conditioned nociceptive input and appears as the dark side of neuronal plasticity. By taking a toll on every part of your life, this abnormal persistent memory of an aversive state can be more damaging than its initial experience. All strategies for the treatment of chronic pain conditions must consider stress-related comorbid conditions since cognitive factors such as beliefs, expectations, and prior experience (memory of pain) are key modulators of the perception of pain. The anxiolytic and anti-stress effects of medical cannabinoids can substantially modulate the efficacy and tolerability of therapeutic interventions and will help to pave the way to a successful multimodal therapy. Why some individuals are more susceptible to the effects of stress remains to be uncovered. The development of personalized prevention or treatment strategies for anxiety and depression related to chronic pain must also consider gender differences. An emotional basis of chronic pain opens a new horizon of opportunities for developing treatment strategies beyond the repeated sole use of acutely acting analgesics. A phase I trial to determine the pharmacokinetics, psychotropic effects, and safety profile of a novel nanoparticle-based cannabinoid spray for oromucosal delivery highlights a remarkable innovation in galenic technology and urges clinical studies further detailing the huge therapeutic potential of medical cannabis (Lorenzl et al.; this issue).
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Borwin Bandelow
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Göttingen, Germany
| | | | - Beat Lutz
- Institute of Physiological Chemistry, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
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Sex differences in the genetic regulation of the blood transcriptome response to glucocorticoid receptor activation. Transl Psychiatry 2021; 11:632. [PMID: 34903727 PMCID: PMC8669026 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01756-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2021] [Accepted: 11/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Substantial sex differences have been reported in the physiological response to stress at multiple levels, including the release of the stress hormone, cortisol. Here, we explore the genomic variants in 93 females and 196 males regulating the initial transcriptional response to cortisol via glucocorticoid receptor (GR) activation. Gene expression levels in peripheral blood were obtained before and after GR-stimulation with the selective GR agonist dexamethasone to identify differential expression following GR-activation. Sex stratified analyses revealed that while the transcripts responsive to GR-stimulation were mostly overlapping between males and females, the quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) regulation differential transcription to GR-stimulation was distinct. Sex-stratified eQTL SNPs (eSNPs) were located in different functional genomic elements and sex-stratified transcripts were enriched within postmortem brain transcriptional profiles associated with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) specifically in males and females in the cingulate cortex. Female eSNPs were enriched among SNPs linked to MDD in genome-wide association studies. Finally, transcriptional sensitive genetic profile scores derived from sex-stratified eSNPS regulating differential transcription to GR-stimulation were predictive of depression status and depressive symptoms in a sex-concordant manner in a child and adolescent cohort (n = 584). These results suggest the potential of eQTLs regulating differential transcription to GR-stimulation as biomarkers of sex-specific biological risk for stress-related psychiatric disorders.
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Van Looveren K, Van Boxelaere M, Callaerts-Vegh Z, Libert C. Cognitive dysfunction in mice lacking proper glucocorticoid receptor dimerization. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0226753. [PMID: 31869387 PMCID: PMC6927629 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2019] [Accepted: 12/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Stress is a major risk factor for depression and anxiety. One of the effects of stress is the (over-) activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the release of stress hormones such as glucocorticoids (GCs). Chronically increased stress hormone levels have been shown to have detrimental effects on neuronal networks by inhibiting neurotrophic processes particularly in the hippocampus proper. Centrally, GCs modulate metabolic as well as behavioural processes by activating two classes of corticoid receptors, high-affinity mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) and low-affinity glucocorticoid receptors (GR). Upon activation, GR can modulate gene transcription either as a monomeric protein, or as a dimer interacting directly with DNA. GR can also modulate cellular processes via non-genomic mechanisms, for example via a GPCR-protein interaction. We evaluated the behavioral phenotype in mice with a targeted mutation in the GR in a FVB/NJ background. In GRdim/dim mice, GR proteins form poor homodimers, while the GR monomer remains intact. We evaluated the effect of poor GR dimerization on hippocampus-dependent cognition as well as on exploration and emotional behavior under baseline and chronically increased stress hormone levels. We found that GRdim/dim mice did not behave differently from GRwt/wt littermates under baseline conditions. However, after chronic elevation of stress hormone levels, GRdim/dim mice displayed a significant impairment in hippocampus-dependent memory compared to GRwt/wt mice, which correlated with differential expression of hippocampal Bdnf/TrkB and Fkbp5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly Van Looveren
- Center for Inflammation Research, VIB, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | | | - Zsuzsanna Callaerts-Vegh
- Laboratory of Biological Psychology, KULeuven, Leuven Belgium
- Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience & Disease (LIND), Leuven, Belgium
- mINT Mouse Behavioural Core Facility, KULeuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Claude Libert
- Center for Inflammation Research, VIB, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- * E-mail:
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Gulyaeva NV. Biochemical Mechanisms and Translational Relevance of Hippocampal Vulnerability to Distant Focal Brain Injury: The Price of Stress Response. BIOCHEMISTRY (MOSCOW) 2019; 84:1306-1328. [PMID: 31760920 DOI: 10.1134/s0006297919110087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Focal brain injuries (in particular, stroke and traumatic brain injury) induce with high probability the development of delayed (months, years) cognitive and depressive disturbances which are frequently comorbid. The association of these complications with hippocampal alterations (in spite of the lack of a primary injury of this structure), as well as the lack of a clear dependence between the probability of depression and dementia development and primary damage severity and localization served as the basis for a new hypothesis on the distant hippocampal damage as a key link in the pathogenesis of cognitive and psychiatric disturbances. According to this hypothesis, the excess of corticosteroids secreted after a focal brain damage, in particular in patients with abnormal stress-response due to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA) dysfunction, interacts with corticosteroid receptors in the hippocampus inducing signaling pathways which stimulate neuroinflammation and subsequent events including disturbances in neurogenesis and hippocampal neurodegeneration. In this article, the molecular and cellular mechanisms associated with the regulatory role of the HPAA and multiple functions of brain corticosteroid receptors in the hippocampus are analyzed. Functional and structural damage to the hippocampus, a brain region selectively vulnerable to external factors and responding to them by increased cytokine secretion, forms the basis for cognitive function disturbances and psychopathology development. This concept is confirmed by our own experimental data, results of other groups and by prospective clinical studies of post-stroke complications. Clinically relevant biochemical approaches to predict the risks and probability of post-stroke/post-trauma cognitive and depressive disturbances are suggested using the evaluation of biochemical markers of patients' individual stress-response. Pathogenetically justified ways for preventing these consequences of focal brain damage are proposed by targeting key molecular mechanisms underlying hippocampal dysfunction.
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Affiliation(s)
- N V Gulyaeva
- Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117485, Russia. .,Moscow Research and Clinical Center for Neuropsychiatry, Healthcare Department of Moscow, Moscow, 115419, Russia
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