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Novel drug-regulated transcriptional networks in brain reveal pharmacological properties of psychotropic drugs.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Despite their widespread use, the biological mechanisms underlying the efficacy of psychotropic drugs are still incompletely known; improved understanding of these is essential for development of novel more effective drugs and rational design of therapy. Given the large number of psychotropic drugs available and their differential pharmacological effects, it would be important to establish specific predictors of response to various classes of drugs. RESULTS: To identify the molecular mechanisms that may initiate therapeutic effects, whole-genome expression profiling (using 324 Illumina Mouse WG-6 microarrays) of drug-induced alterations in the mouse brain was undertaken, with a focus on the time-course (1, 2, 4 and 8 h) of gene expression changes produced by eighteen major psychotropic drugs: antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, psychostimulants and opioids. The resulting database is freely accessible at http://www.genes2mind.org. Bioinformatics approaches led to the identification of three main drug-responsive genomic networks and indicated neurobiological pathways that mediate the alterations in transcription. Each tested psychotropic drug was characterized by a unique gene network expression profile related to its neuropharmacological properties. Functional links that connect expression of the networks to the development of neuronal adaptations (MAPK signaling pathway), control of brain metabolism (adipocytokine pathway), and organization of cell projections (mTOR pathway) were found. CONCLUSIONS: The comparison of gene expression alterations between various drugs opened a new means to classify the different psychoactive compounds and to predict their cellular targets; this is well exemplified in the case of tianeptine, an antidepressant with unknown mechanisms of action. This work represents the first proof-of-concept study of a molecular classification of psychoactive drugs.

SUBMITTER: Korostynski M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3844597 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Novel drug-regulated transcriptional networks in brain reveal pharmacological properties of psychotropic drugs.

Korostynski Michal M Piechota Marcin M Dzbek Jaroslaw J Mlynarski Wiktor W Szklarczyk Klaudia K Ziolkowska Barbara B Przewlocki Ryszard R

BMC genomics 20130908

<h4>Background</h4>Despite their widespread use, the biological mechanisms underlying the efficacy of psychotropic drugs are still incompletely known; improved understanding of these is essential for development of novel more effective drugs and rational design of therapy. Given the large number of psychotropic drugs available and their differential pharmacological effects, it would be important to establish specific predictors of response to various classes of drugs.<h4>Results</h4>To identify ...[more]

PMID: 24010892

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Project description:In summary, we characterized genomic signatures of response to drugs of abuse and we found positive correlations between the drug-induced expression and various behavioral effects. These signatures are formed by two dynamically inducible transcriptional networks: (1) CREB/SRF-dependent gene pattern that appears to be related to drug-induced neuronal activity, (2) the pattern of genes controlled at least in part via release of glucocorticoids and androgens that are associated with rewarding and harmful drug effects. The discovery of co-expressed networks of genes allowed for the identification of master-switch controlling factors involved in molecular response to the drugs. Finally, using the pharmacological tools we were able to dissect and inhibit particular gene expression patterns from genomic profile. Type: Drug response, Time-course, Gene expression profiling with Illumina Microarrays Keywords: Addiction, Drugs of abuse, Time-course, Immediate Early Genes, Glucocorticoid receptor dependent genes, Cocaine, Heroin, Nicotine, Ethanol, Morphine, Methamphetamine The microarray experiment was performed to analyze time-course of drug-induced transcriptional response in C57BL/6J mouse striatum. Six the most addictive and harming drugs of abuse (morphine 20 mg/kg, heroin 10 mg/kg, ethanol 2 g/kg, nicotine 1 mg/kg, methamphetamine 2 mg/kg or cocaine 25 mg/kg, i.p.) were selected for the comparison. Drug doses were previously reported as rewarding in mice and further tested in our laboratory. To analyze dynamics of early, intermediate and relatively late changes of mRNA abundance the experiment was performed in four time points (1, 2, 4 and 8h after drug administration). To exclude influence of drug injection and circadian rhythm on gene expression profile, control groups of saline treated and naïve animals were prepared for each time point. Design of the experiment assumed pooling of two animals per each array and using of three independent arrays per group. To provide appropriate balance in the whole dataset groups were equally divided between the array hybridization batches. 'Complete' normalized data and non-normalized data (containing control rows not represented in Platform GPL6105) are linked below as supplementary files.

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Project description:BackgroundThe long-term effects of psychotropic drugs are associated with the reversal of disease-related alterations through the reorganization and normalization of neuronal connections. Molecular factors that trigger drug-induced brain plasticity remain only partly understood. Doublecortin-like kinase 1 (Dclk1) possesses microtubule-polymerizing activity during synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis. However, the Dclk1 gene shows a complex profile of transcriptional regulation, with two alternative promoters and exon splicing patterns that suggest the expression of multiple isoforms with different kinase activities.ResultsHere, we applied next-generation sequencing to analyze changes in the expression of Dclk1 gene isoforms in the brain in response to several psychoactive drugs with diverse pharmacological mechanisms of action. We used bioinformatics tools to define the range and levels of Dclk1 transcriptional regulation in the mouse nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex. We also sought to investigate the presence of DCLK1-derived peptides using mass spectrometry. We detected 15 transcripts expressed from the Dclk1 locus (FPKM > 1), including 2 drug-regulated variants (fold change > 2). Drugs that act on serotonin receptors (5-HT2A/C) regulate a subset of Dclk1 isoforms in a brain-region-specific manner. The strongest influence was observed for the mianserin-induced expression of an isoform with intron retention. The drug-activated expression of novel alternative Dclk1 isoforms was validated using qPCR. The drug-regulated isoform contains genetic variants of DCLK1 that have been previously associated with schizophrenia and hyperactivity disorder in humans. We identified a short peptide that might originate from the novel DCLK1 protein product. Moreover, protein domains encoded by the regulated variant indicate their potential involvement in the negative regulation of the canonical DCLK1 protein.ConclusionsIn summary, we identified novel isoforms of the neuroplasticity-related gene Dclk1 that are expressed in the brain in response to psychotropic drug treatments.

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Novel drug-regulated transcriptional networks in brain reveal pharmacological properties of psychotropic drugs.

Publications

Novel drug-regulated transcriptional networks in brain reveal pharmacological properties of psychotropic drugs.

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