Dataset Information

Amphiregulin normalizes altered circuit connectivity for social dominance of the CRTC3 knockout mouse.

ABSTRACT: Social hierarchy has a profound impact on social behavior, reward processing, and mental health. Moreover, lower social rank can lead to chronic stress and often more serious problems such as bullying victims of abuse, suicide, or attack to society. However, its underlying mechanisms, particularly their association with glial factors, are largely unknown. In this study, we report that astrocyte-derived amphiregulin plays a critical role in the determination of hierarchical ranks. We found that astrocytes-secreted amphiregulin is directly regulated by cAMP response element-binding (CREB)-regulated transcription coactivator 3 (CRTC3) and CREB. Mice with systemic and astrocyte-specific CRTC3 deficiency exhibited a lower social rank with reduced functional connectivity between the prefrontal cortex, a major social hierarchy center, and the parietal cortex. However, this effect was reversed by astrocyte-specific induction of amphiregulin expression, and the epidermal growth factor domain was critical for this action of amphiregulin. These results provide evidence of the involvement of novel glial factors in the regulation of social dominance and may shed light on the clinical application of amphiregulin in the treatment of various psychiatric disorders.

SUBMITTER: Park JS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10914624 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Amphiregulin normalizes altered circuit connectivity for social dominance of the CRTC3 knockout mouse.

Park Ji-Seon JS Heo Hwon H Kim Min-Seok MS Lee Seung-Eun SE Park Sukyoung S Kim Ki-Hyun KH Kang Young-Ho YH Kim Je Seong JS Sung Young Hoon YH Shim Woo Hyun WH Kim Dong-Hou DH Song Youngsup Y Yoon Seung-Yong SY

Molecular psychiatry 20230920 11

Social hierarchy has a profound impact on social behavior, reward processing, and mental health. Moreover, lower social rank can lead to chronic stress and often more serious problems such as bullying victims of abuse, suicide, or attack to society. However, its underlying mechanisms, particularly their association with glial factors, are largely unknown. In this study, we report that astrocyte-derived amphiregulin plays a critical role in the determination of hierarchical ranks. We found that a ...[more]

PMID: 37730843

Similar Datasets

Project description:The plasma membrane transporters for the monoamine neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine modulate the dynamics of these monoamine neurotransmitters. Thus, activity of these transporters has significant consequences for monoamine activity throughout the brain and for a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Gene knockout (KO) mice that reduce or eliminate expression of each of these monoamine transporters have provided a wealth of new information about the function of these proteins at molecular, physiological and behavioral levels. In the present work we use the unique properties of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to probe the effects of altered dopaminergic dynamics on meso-scale neuronal circuitry and overall brain morphology, since changes at these levels of organization might help to account for some of the extensive pharmacological and behavioral differences observed in dopamine transporter (DAT) KO mice. Despite the smaller size of these animals, voxel-wise statistical comparison of high resolution structural MR images indicated little morphological change as a consequence of DAT KO. Likewise, proton magnetic resonance spectra recorded in the striatum indicated no significant changes in detectable metabolite concentrations between DAT KO and wild-type (WT) mice. In contrast, alterations in the circuitry from the prefrontal cortex to the mesocortical limbic system, an important brain component intimately tied to function of mesolimbic/mesocortical dopamine reward pathways, were revealed by manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI). Analysis of co-registered MEMRI images taken over the 26 hours after introduction of Mn(2+) into the prefrontal cortex indicated that DAT KO mice have a truncated Mn(2+) distribution within this circuitry with little accumulation beyond the thalamus or contralateral to the injection site. By contrast, WT littermates exhibit Mn(2+) transport into more posterior midbrain nuclei and contralateral mesolimbic structures at 26 hr post-injection. Thus, DAT KO mice appear, at this level of anatomic resolution, to have preserved cortico-striatal-thalamic connectivity but diminished robustness of reward-modulating circuitry distal to the thalamus. This is in contradistinction to the state of this circuitry in serotonin transporter KO mice where we observed more robust connectivity in more posterior brain regions using methods identical to those employed here.

Project description:Synaptic levels of the monoamine neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine are modulated by their respective plasma membrane transporters, albeit with a few exceptions. Monoamine transporters remove monoamines from the synaptic cleft and thus influence the degree and duration of signaling. Abnormal concentrations of these neuronal transmitters are implicated in a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders, including addiction, depression, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. This work concentrates on the norepinephrine transporter (NET), using a battery of in vivo magnetic resonance imaging techniques and histological correlates to probe the effects of genetic deletion of the norepinephrine transporter on brain metabolism, anatomy and functional connectivity. MRS recorded in the striatum of NET knockout mice indicated a lower concentration of NAA that correlates with histological observations of subtle dysmorphisms in the striatum and internal capsule. As with DAT and SERT knockout mice, we detected minimal structural alterations in NET knockout mice by tensor-based morphometric analysis. In contrast, longitudinal imaging after stereotaxic prefrontal cortical injection of manganese, an established neuronal circuitry tracer, revealed that the reward circuit in the NET knockout mouse is biased toward anterior portions of the brain. This is similar to previous results observed for the dopamine transporter (DAT) knockout mouse, but dissimilar from work with serotonin transporter (SERT) knockout mice where Mn(2+) tracings extended to more posterior structures than in wildtype animals. These observations correlate with behavioral studies indicating that SERT knockout mice display anxiety-like phenotypes, while NET knockouts and to a lesser extent DAT knockout mice display antidepressant-like phenotypic features. Thus, the mainly anterior activity detected with manganese-enhanced MRI in the DAT and NET knockout mice is likely indicative of more robust connectivity in the frontal portion of the reward circuit of the DAT and NET knockout mice compared to the SERT knockout mice.

Dataset Information

Amphiregulin normalizes altered circuit connectivity for social dominance of the CRTC3 knockout mouse.

Publications

Amphiregulin normalizes altered circuit connectivity for social dominance of the CRTC3 knockout mouse.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets