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Szakats S, McAtamney A, Cross H, Wilson MJ. Sex-biased gene and microRNA expression in the developing mouse brain is associated with neurodevelopmental functions and neurological phenotypes. Biol Sex Differ 2023; 14:57. [PMID: 37679839 PMCID: PMC10486049 DOI: 10.1186/s13293-023-00538-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Sex differences pose a challenge and an opportunity in biomedical research. Understanding how sex chromosomes and hormones affect disease-causing mechanisms will shed light on the mechanisms underlying predominantly idiopathic sex-biased neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD, schizophrenia, and autism. Gene expression is a crucial conduit for the influence of sex on developmental processes; therefore, this study focused on sex differences in gene expression and the regulation of gene expression. The increasing interest in microRNAs (miRNAs), small, non-coding RNAs, for their contribution to normal and pathological neurodevelopment prompted us to test how miRNA expression differs between the sexes in the developing brain. METHODS High-throughput sequencing approaches were used to identify transcripts, including miRNAs, that showed significantly different expression between male and female brains on day 15.5 of development (E15.5). RESULTS Robust sex differences were identified for some genes and miRNAs, confirming the influence of biological sex on RNA. Many miRNAs that exhibit the greatest differences between males and females have established roles in neurodevelopment, implying that sex-biased expression may drive sex differences in developmental processes. In addition to highlighting sex differences for individual miRNAs, gene ontology analysis suggested several broad categories in which sex-biased RNAs might act to establish sex differences in the embryonic mouse brain. Finally, mining publicly available SNP data indicated that some sex-biased miRNAs reside near the genomic regions associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. CONCLUSIONS Together, these findings reinforce the importance of cataloguing sex differences in molecular biology research and highlight genes, miRNAs, and pathways of interest that may be important for sexual differentiation in the mouse and possibly the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susanna Szakats
- Developmental Genomics Laboratory, Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand
| | - Alice McAtamney
- Developmental Genomics Laboratory, Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand
| | - Hugh Cross
- Developmental Genomics Laboratory, Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand
| | - Megan J Wilson
- Developmental Genomics Laboratory, Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand.
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Wisłowska-Stanek A, Lehner M, Tomczuk F, Kołosowska K, Krząśnik P, Turzyńska D, Skórzewska A. The role of the dorsal hippocampus in resistance to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder-like behaviours. Behav Brain Res 2023; 438:114185. [PMID: 36334781 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.114185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2022] [Revised: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 10/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
This study aimed to determine the activity of the dorsal hippocampus (dHIP) in resistance to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like behaviours. Rats were divided into resistant, PTSD(-), and susceptible, PTSD(+) groups based on the time spent in the central area in an open field test and freezing duration during exposure to an aversive context one week after stress experience (electric foot shock). The PTSD(-) rats, compared to the PTSD(+) group, had an increased concentration of corticosterone in plasma and changes in the activity of the dHIP, specifically, increased c-Fos expression in the dentate gyrus (DG) and increased Neuroligin-2 (marker of GABAergic neurotransmission) expression in the DG and CA3 area of the dHIP. Moreover, in the hippocampus, the PTSD(-) group showed decreased mRNA expression for corticotropin-releasing factor receptors type 1 and 2, increased mRNA expression for orexin receptor type 1, and decreased miR-9 and miR-34c levels compared with the PTSD(+) group. This study may suggest that the increase in GABA signalling in the hippocampus attenuates the activity of the CRF system and enhances the function of the orexin system. Moreover, decreased expression of miR-34c and miR-9 could facilitate fear extinction and diminishes the anxiety response. These effects may lead to an anxiolytic-like effect and improve resistance to developing PTSD-like behaviours.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksandra Wisłowska-Stanek
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Warsaw, Centre for Preclinical Research and Technology (CEPT), 1B Banacha Street, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Małgorzata Lehner
- Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, 9 Sobieskiego Street, 02-957 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Filip Tomczuk
- Department of Genetics, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Karolina Kołosowska
- Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, 9 Sobieskiego Street, 02-957 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Paweł Krząśnik
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Warsaw, Centre for Preclinical Research and Technology (CEPT), 1B Banacha Street, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Danuta Turzyńska
- Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, 9 Sobieskiego Street, 02-957 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Anna Skórzewska
- Department of Neurochemistry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, 9 Sobieskiego Street, 02-957 Warsaw, Poland.
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Wang LJ, Kuo HC, Lee SY, Huang LH, Lin Y, Lin PH, Li SC. MicroRNAs serve as prediction and treatment-response biomarkers of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and promote the differentiation of neuronal cells by repressing the apoptosis pathway. Transl Psychiatry 2022; 12:67. [PMID: 35184133 PMCID: PMC8858317 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-022-01832-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Revised: 02/01/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly heritable neurodevelopmental disorder. This study aimed to examine whether miRNA expression abundance in total white blood cells (WBCs) facilitated the identification of ADHD and reflected its response to treatment. Furthermore, whether miRNA markers facilitated the growth of the human cortical neuronal (HCN-2) cells was also investigated. Total WBC samples were collected from 145 patients and 83 controls, followed by RNA extraction and qPCR assays. Subsequently, WBC samples were also collected at the endpoint from ADHD patients who had undergone 12 months of methylphenidate treatment. The determined ΔCt values of 12 miRNAs were applied to develop an ADHD prediction model and to estimate the correlation with treatment response. The prediction model applying the ΔCt values of 12 examined miRNAs (using machine learning algorithm) demonstrated good validity in discriminating ADHD patients from controls (sensitivity: 96%; specificity: 94.2%). Among the 92 ADHD patients completing the 12-month follow-up, miR-140-3p, miR-27a-3p, miR-486-5p, and miR-151-5p showed differential trends of ΔCt values between treatment responders and non-responders. In addition, the in vitro cell model revealed that miR-140-3p and miR-126-5p promoted the differentiation of HCN-2 cells by enhancing the length of neurons and the number of junctions. Microarray and flow cytometry assays confirmed that this promotion was achieved by repressing apoptosis and/or necrosis. The findings of this study suggest that the expression levels of miRNAs have the potential to serve as both diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers for ADHD. The possible biological mechanisms of these biomarker miRNAs in ADHD pathophysiology were also clarified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liang-Jen Wang
- grid.145695.a0000 0004 1798 0922Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
| | - Ho-Chang Kuo
- grid.145695.a0000 0004 1798 0922Department of Pediatrics, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan ,grid.413804.aKawasaki Disease Center, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
| | - Sheng-Yu Lee
- grid.415011.00000 0004 0572 9992Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan ,grid.412019.f0000 0000 9476 5696Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Graduate Institute of Medicine, School of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
| | - Lien-Hung Huang
- grid.145695.a0000 0004 1798 0922Center for Mitochondrial Research and Medicine and Genomics and Proteomics Core Laboratory, Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
| | - Yuyu Lin
- grid.145695.a0000 0004 1798 0922Center for Mitochondrial Research and Medicine and Genomics and Proteomics Core Laboratory, Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
| | - Pei-Hsien Lin
- grid.145695.a0000 0004 1798 0922Center for Mitochondrial Research and Medicine and Genomics and Proteomics Core Laboratory, Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
| | - Sung-Chou Li
- Center for Mitochondrial Research and Medicine and Genomics and Proteomics Core Laboratory, Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
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Xu Y, Lin S, Tao J, Liu X, Zhou R, Chen S, Vyas P, Yang C, Chen B, Qian A, Wang M. Correlation research of susceptibility single nucleotide polymorphisms and the severity of clinical symptoms in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:1003542. [PMID: 36213906 PMCID: PMC9538111 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1003542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To analyze the correlation between susceptibility single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and the severity of clinical symptoms in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), so as to supplement the clinical significance of gene polymorphism and increase our understanding of the association between genetic mutations and ADHD phenotypes. METHODS 193 children with ADHD were included in our study from February 2017 to February 2020 in the Children's ADHD Clinic of the author's medical institution. 23 ADHD susceptibility SNPs were selected based on the literature, and multiple polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeted capture sequencing technology was used for gene analysis. A series of ADHD-related questionnaires were used to reflect the severity of the disease, and the correlation between the SNPs of specific sites and the severity of clinical symptoms was evaluated. R software was used to search for independent risk factors by multivariate logistic regression and the "corplot" package was used for correlation analysis. RESULTS Among the 23 SNP loci of ADHD children, no mutation was detected in 6 loci, and 2 loci did not conform to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Of the remaining 15 loci, there were 9 SNPs, rs2652511 (SLC6A3 locus), rs1410739 (OBI1-AS1 locus), rs3768046 (TIE1 locus), rs223508 (MANBA locus), rs2906457 (ST3GAL3 locus), rs4916723 (LINC00461 locus), rs9677504 (SPAG16 locus), rs1427829 (intron) and rs11210892 (intron), correlated with the severity of clinical symptoms of ADHD. Specifically, rs1410739 (OBI1-AS1 locus) was found to simultaneously affect conduct problems, control ability and abstract thinking ability of children with ADHD. CONCLUSION There were 9 SNPs significantly correlated with the severity of clinical symptoms in children with ADHD, and the rs1410739 (OBI1-AS1 locus) may provide a new direction for ADHD research. Our study builds on previous susceptibility research and further investigates the impact of a single SNP on the severity of clinical symptoms of ADHD. This can help improve the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of ADHD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yunyu Xu
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
| | - Shuangxiang Lin
- Department of Radiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jiejie Tao
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
| | - Xinmiao Liu
- School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
| | - Ronghui Zhou
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
| | - Shuangli Chen
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
| | - Punit Vyas
- School of Medicine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, United States
| | - Chuang Yang
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
| | - Bicheng Chen
- Key Laboratory of Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Hepato-Pancreatic Diseases of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial Top Key Discipline in Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
| | - Andan Qian
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
| | - Meihao Wang
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.,School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China
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Li RA, Talikka M, Gubian S, Vom Berg C, Martin F, Peitsch MC, Hoeng J, Zupanic A. Systems Toxicology Approach for Assessing Developmental Neurotoxicity in Larval Zebrafish. Front Genet 2021; 12:652632. [PMID: 34211495 PMCID: PMC8239408 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.652632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Adverse outcomes that result from chemical toxicity are rarely caused by dysregulation of individual proteins; rather, they are often caused by system-level perturbations in networks of molecular events. To fully understand the mechanisms of toxicity, it is necessary to recognize the interactions of molecules, pathways, and biological processes within these networks. The developing brain is a prime example of an extremely complex network, which makes developmental neurotoxicity one of the most challenging areas in toxicology. We have developed a systems toxicology method that uses a computable biological network to represent molecular interactions in the developing brain of zebrafish larvae. The network is curated from scientific literature and describes interactions between biological processes, signaling pathways, and adverse outcomes associated with neurotoxicity. This allows us to identify important signaling hubs, pathway interactions, and emergent adverse outcomes, providing a more complete understanding of neurotoxicity. Here, we describe the construction of a zebrafish developmental neurotoxicity network and its validation by integration with publicly available neurotoxicity-related transcriptomic datasets. Our network analysis identified consistent regulation of tumor suppressors p53 and retinoblastoma 1 (Rb1) as well as the oncogene Krüppel-like factor (Klf8) in response to chemically induced developmental neurotoxicity. The developed network can be used to interpret transcriptomic data in a neurotoxicological context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roman A Li
- Eawag, Dübendorf, Switzerland.,PMI R&D, Philip Morris Products S.A., Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Marja Talikka
- PMI R&D, Philip Morris Products S.A., Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Sylvain Gubian
- PMI R&D, Philip Morris Products S.A., Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | | | - Florian Martin
- PMI R&D, Philip Morris Products S.A., Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | | | - Julia Hoeng
- PMI R&D, Philip Morris Products S.A., Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Anze Zupanic
- Eawag, Dübendorf, Switzerland.,National Institute of Biology, Ljubljana, Slovenia
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