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Reductions in hypothalamic Gfap expression, glial cells and Î±-tanycytes in lean and hypermetabolic Gnasxl-deficient mice

ABSTRACT: Background: Neuronal and glial differentiation in the murine hypothalamus is not complete at birth, but continues over the first two weeks postnatally. Nutritional status and Leptin deficiency can influence the maturation of neuronal projections and glial patterns, and hypothalamic gliosis occurs in mouse models of obesity. Gnasxl constitutes an alternative transcript of the genomically imprinted Gnas locus and encodes a variant of the signalling protein GÎ±s, termed XLÎ±s, which is expressed in defined areas of the hypothalamus. Gnasxl-deficient mice show postnatal growth retardation and undernutrition, while surviving adults remain lean and hypermetabolic with increased sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity. Effects of this knock-out on the hypothalamic neural network have not yet been investigated. Results: RNAseq analysis for gene expression changes in hypothalami of Gnasxl-deficient mice indicated Glial fibrillary acid protein (Gfap) expression to be significantly down-regulated in adult samples. Histological analysis confirmed a reduction in Gfap-positive glial cell numbers specifically in the hypothalamus. This reduction was observed in adult tissue samples, whereas no difference was found in hypothalami of postnatal stages, indicating an adaptation in adult Gnasxl-deficient mice to their earlier growth phenotype and hypermetabolism. Especially noticeable was a loss of many Gfap-positive Î±-tanycytes and their processes, which form part of the ependymal layer that lines the medial and dorsal regions of the 3rd ventricle, while Î²-tanycytes along the median eminence (ME) and infundibular recesses appeared unaffected. This was accompanied by local reductions in Vimentin and Nestin expression. Hypothalamic RNA levels of glial solute transporters were, unchanged, indicating a potential compensatory up-regulation in the remaining astrocytes and tanycytes. Conclusion: Gnasxl deficiency does not directly affect glial development in the hypothalamus, since it is expressed in neurons, and Gfap-positive astrocytes and tanycytes appear normal during early postnatal stages. The loss of Gfap-expressing cells in adult hypothalami appears to be a consequence of the postnatal undernutrition, hypoglycaemia and continued hypermetabolism and leanness of Gnasxl-deficient mice, which contrasts with gliosis observed in obese mouse models. Since Î±-tanycytes also function as adult neural progenitor cells, these findings might indicate further developmental abnormalities in hypothalamic formations of Gnasxl-deficient mice, potentially including neuronal composition and projections. 6 wildtype and 6 Gnasxlm+/p- RNA isolates were used, which were pooled in pairs in equal concentrations prior to rRNA removal using the RiboMinus kit (Life Technologies)

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

SUBMITTER: Andrew Holmes

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-75878 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress

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Project description:Background: Neuronal and glial differentiation in the murine hypothalamus is not complete at birth, but continues over the first two weeks postnatally. Nutritional status and Leptin deficiency can influence the maturation of neuronal projections and glial patterns, and hypothalamic gliosis occurs in mouse models of obesity. Gnasxl constitutes an alternative transcript of the genomically imprinted Gnas locus and encodes a variant of the signalling protein Gαs, termed XLαs, which is expressed in defined areas of the hypothalamus. Gnasxl-deficient mice show postnatal growth retardation and undernutrition, while surviving adults remain lean and hypermetabolic with increased sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity. Effects of this knock-out on the hypothalamic neural network have not yet been investigated. Results: RNAseq analysis for gene expression changes in hypothalami of Gnasxl-deficient mice indicated Glial fibrillary acid protein (Gfap) expression to be significantly down-regulated in adult samples. Histological analysis confirmed a reduction in Gfap-positive glial cell numbers specifically in the hypothalamus. This reduction was observed in adult tissue samples, whereas no difference was found in hypothalami of postnatal stages, indicating an adaptation in adult Gnasxl-deficient mice to their earlier growth phenotype and hypermetabolism. Especially noticeable was a loss of many Gfap-positive α-tanycytes and their processes, which form part of the ependymal layer that lines the medial and dorsal regions of the 3rd ventricle, while β-tanycytes along the median eminence (ME) and infundibular recesses appeared unaffected. This was accompanied by local reductions in Vimentin and Nestin expression. Hypothalamic RNA levels of glial solute transporters were, unchanged, indicating a potential compensatory up-regulation in the remaining astrocytes and tanycytes. Conclusion: Gnasxl deficiency does not directly affect glial development in the hypothalamus, since it is expressed in neurons, and Gfap-positive astrocytes and tanycytes appear normal during early postnatal stages. The loss of Gfap-expressing cells in adult hypothalami appears to be a consequence of the postnatal undernutrition, hypoglycaemia and continued hypermetabolism and leanness of Gnasxl-deficient mice, which contrasts with gliosis observed in obese mouse models. Since α-tanycytes also function as adult neural progenitor cells, these findings might indicate further developmental abnormalities in hypothalamic formations of Gnasxl-deficient mice, potentially including neuronal composition and projections.

Project description:Human epidemiologic and animal model data indicate that early environmental influences can persistently alter an individual’s risk of obesity. Environmental effects on hypothalamic developmental epigenetics provide a strong candidate mechanism to explain such ‘developmental programming’ of obesity. To advance our understanding of these processes, it is essential to determine to what extent the diversity of hypothalamic cell types is regulated by epigenetic differences, and when these are established. By performing genome-scale DNA methylation profiling in hypothalamic neurons and non-neuronal cells at postnatal day 0 (P0) and P21, we found that most of the DNA methylation differences distinguishing these two cell types are established postnatally. We found dramatic neuron-specific increases in DNA methylation from P0 to P21. Gene ontology analyses indicated that cell-type specific P0 to P21 methylation changes are key regulators of hypothalamic development. Quantitative bisulfite pyrosequencing verified our methylation profiling results in 16 of 16 selected regions. Expression differences were associated with DNA methylation in several genes analyzed. Our data indicate that future studies of hypothalamic epigenetics in developmental programming of obesity will gain far greater sensitivity and insight by examining outcomes at the cell-type specific level. Moreover, our results provide new evidence that early postnatal life is a critical period for murine hypothalamic developmental epigenetics. Hypothalami were dissected from inbred male C57 mice at postnatal day 0 (P0) and P21. Non-neuronal and neuronal nuclei were separated via fluorescence-activated sorting based on staining for the neuron-specific nuclear surface marker NeuN; each sample for sorting was comprised of 2 age-matched hypothalami. Genome-scale DNA methylation profiling was performed by methylation specific amplification coupled with next generation sequencing (MSA-seq) as decribed below (5 independent samples per age).

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Reductions in hypothalamic Gfap expression, glial cells and Î±-tanycytes in lean and hypermetabolic Gnasxl-deficient mice

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