3’ RNA-seq of five brain structures after repeated exposure to cocaine
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE158588 | GEO | 2021/04/14
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:After exposure to drugs of abuse, the reward circuit can experience persistent changes that are thought to underlie relapse behavior. These changes can be epigenetic in nature, and here we identify an epigenetic regulator of memory processes, nuclear orphan receptor subfamily4 groupA member2 (NR4A2 aka NURR1), as necessary for relapse to cocaine-seeking behavior. Nr4a2 is an epigenetically regulated immediate early gene and transcription factor that is highly expressed in the medial habenula (MHb). Despite the well-studied contributions of the MHb to nicotine-associated behaviors, the MHb is not classically included in reward circuits. Therefore, the role of MHb NR4A2 in cocaine-seeking and relapse behavior remains largely unknown. This is a key open question as NR4A2 is a powerful regulator of memory processes dependent on epigenetic mechanisms. In this study, we examined the role of MHb NR4A2 in cued reinstatement of cocaine self-administration in mice, and found that over-expressing a dominant negative form of Nr4a2 (Nurr2c) in the MHb results in a near complete block of relapse-like behavior. We used single-nucleus transcriptomics to characterize the molecular cascade following the manipulation of Nr4a2, revealing changes in transcriptional networks related to addiction, neuroplasticity, and glutamatergic signaling. Together, these results place the MHb in the reward circuit as a pivotal regulator of relapse behavior and demonstrate the importance of NR4A2 as a key mechanism driving relapse behavior in the MHb.
2024-03-01 | GSE208081 | GEO
Project description:Many studies of cocaine-responsive gene expression have focused on changes occurring during cocaine exposure, but few studies have examined the persistence of these changes with cocaine abstinence. Persistent changes in gene expression, as well as alterations induced during abstinence may underlie long-lasting drug craving and relapse liability. Results: Whole-genome expression analysis was conducted on a rat cocaine binge-abstinence model that has previously been demonstrated to engender increased drug seeking and taking with abstinence. Gene expression changes in two mesolimbic terminal fields (mPFC and NAc) were identified in a comparison of cocaine-naïve rats with rats after 10 days of cocaine selfadministration followed by 1, 10, or 100 days of enforced abstinence (n=6-11 per group). A total of 1,461 genes in the mPFC and 414 genes in the NAc were altered between at least two time points (ANOVA, p<0.05; ±1.4 fold-change). These genes can be subdivided into: 1) changes with cocaine self-administration that do not persist into periods of abstinence, 2) changes with cocaine self-administration that persist with abstinence, 3) and those not changed with cocaine self-administration, but changed during enforced abstinence. qPCR analysis was conducted to confirm gene expression changes observed in the microarray analysis.
2010-03-16 | GSE20885 | GEO
Project description:Cocaine administration alters the microRNA (miRNA) landscape in the cortico-accumbal pathway. These changes in miRNA can play a major role in the posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression during withdrawal. This study aimed to investigate the changes in microRNA expression in the cortico-accumbal pathway during acute withdrawal and protracted abstinence following escalated cocaine intake. Small RNA sequencing (sRNA-seq) was used to profile miRNA transcriptomic changes in the cortico-accumbal pathway [infralimbic- and prelimbic-prefrontal cortex (IL and PL) and nucleus accumbens (NAc)] of rats with extended access to cocaine self-administration followed by an 18-h withdrawal or a 4-week abstinence. An 18-h withdrawal led to differential expression (fold-change > 1.5 and p < 0.05) of 21 miRNAs in the IL, 18 miRNAs in the PL, and two miRNAs in the NAc. The mRNAs potentially targeted by these miRNAs were enriched in the following pathways: gap junctions, neurotrophin signaling, MAPK signaling, and cocaine addiction. Moreover, a 4-week abstinence led to differential expression (fold-change > 1.5 and p < 0.05) of 23 miRNAs in the IL, seven in the PL, and five miRNAs in the NAc. The mRNAs potentially targeted by these miRNAs were enriched in pathways including gap junctions, cocaine addiction, MAPK signaling, glutamatergic synapse, morphine addiction, and amphetamine addiction. Additionally, the expression levels of several miRNAs differentially expressed in either the IL or the NAc were significantly correlated with addiction behaviors. Our findings highlight the impact of acute and protracted abstinence from escalated cocaine intake on miRNA expression in the cortico-accumbal pathway, a key circuit in addiction, and suggest developing novel biomarkers and therapeutic approaches to prevent relapse by targeting abstinence-associated miRNAs and their regulated mRNAs.
2023-08-30 | GSE212651 | GEO
Project description:Cocaine use disorder represents a public health crisis with no FDA-approved medications for its treatment. A growing body of research has detailed the important connections between the brain and the resident population of bacteria in the gut, the gut microbiome in psychiatric disease models. Acute depletion of gut bacteria results in enhanced reward in a mouse cocaine place preference model, and repletion of bacterially-derived short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) metabolites reverses this effect. However, the role of the gut microbiome and its metabolites in modulating cocaine-seeking behavior after prolonged abstinence is unknown. Given that relapse prevention is the most clinically challenging issue in treating substance use disorders, studies examining the effects of microbiome manipulations in relapse-relevant models are critical. Here, Sprague-Dawley rats received either untreated water or antibiotics to deplete the gut microbiome and its metabolites. Rats were trained to self-administer cocaine and subjected to either within-session threshold testing to evaluate motivation for cocaine or 21 days of abstinence followed by a cue-induced cocaine-seeking task to model relapse behavior. Microbiome depletion did not affect cocaine acquisition on an FR1 schedule. However, microbiome-depleted subjects exhibited significantly enhanced motivation for low dose cocaine on a within-session threshold task. Similarly, microbiome depletion increased cue-induced cocaine-seeking following prolonged abstinence. In the absence of a normal microbiome, repletion of bacterially-derived SCFA metabolites reversed the behavioral and transcriptional changes associated with microbiome depletion. These findings suggest that gut bacteria, via their metabolites, are key regulators of drug-seeking behaviors, positioning the microbiome as a potential translational research target.
2024-05-01 | GSE227980 | GEO
Project description:Abstract Background Psychostimulant use disorder is a major public health issue, and despite the scope of the problem there are currently no FDA approved treatments. There would be tremendous utility in development of a treatment that could help patients both achieve and maintain abstinence. Previous work from our group has identified granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) as a neuroactive cytokine that alters behavioral response to cocaine, increases synaptic dopamine release, and enhances cognitive flexibility. Here, we investigate the role of G-CSF in affecting extinction and reinstatement of cocaine-seeking and perform detailed characterization of its proteomic effects in multiple limbic substructures. Methods Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with PBS or G-CSF during (1) extinction or (2) abstinence from cocaine self-administration, and drug seeking behavior was measured. Quantitative assessment of changes in the proteomic landscape in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) were performed via data-independent acquisition (DIA) mass spectrometry analysis. Results Administration of G-CSF during extinction accelerated the rate of extinction, and administration during abstinence attenuated cue-induced cocaine-seeking. Analysis of global protein expression demonstrated that G-CSF regulated proteins primarily in mPFC that are critical to glutamate signaling and synapse maintenance. Conclusion Taken together, these findings support G-CSF as a viable translational research target with the potential to reduce drug craving or seeking behaviors. Importantly, recombinant G-CSF exists as an FDA-approved medication which may facilitate rapid clinical translation. Additionally, using cutting-edge multi-region discovery proteomics analyses, these studies identify a novel mechanism underlying G-CSF effects on behavioral plasticity.
2021-01-28 | PXD019485 | Pride
Project description:Endogenous homeostatic mechanisms can restore normal neuronal function following cocaine-induced neuroadaptations. Such mechanisms may be exploited to develop novel therapies for cocaine addiction, but a molecular target has not yet been identified. Here we profiled mouse gene expression during early and late cocaine abstinence to identify putative regulators of neural homeostasis. Cocaine activated the transcription factor, Nr4a1, and its target gene, Cartpt, a key molecule involved in dopamine metabolism. Sustained activation of Cartpt at late abstinence was coupled with depletion of the repressive histone modification, H3K27me3, and enrichment of activating marks, H3K27ac and H3K4me3. Using both CRISPR-mediated and small molecule Nr4a1 activation, we demonstrate the direct causal role of Nr4a1 in sustained activation of Cartpt and in attenuation of cocaine-evoked behavior. Our findings provide evidence that targeting abstinence-induced homeostatic gene expression is a potential therapeutic target in cocaine addiction.
2019-12-05 | GSE141520 | GEO
Project description:Substance use disorders (SUDs) are associated with disruptions in sleep and circadian rhythms that persist during abstinence and may contribute to relapse risk. Repeated use of substances such as psychostimulants and opioids may lead to significant alterations in molecular rhythms in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a brain region central to reward and motivation. Previous studies have identified rhythm alterations in the transcriptome of the NAc and other brain regions following the administration of psychostimulants or opioids. However, little is known about the impact of substance use on the diurnal rhythms of the proteome in the NAc. We used liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry-based (LC-MS/MS) quantitative proteomics, along with a data-independent acquisition (DIA) analysis pipeline, to investigate the effects of cocaine or morphine administration on diurnal rhythms of proteome in the mouse NAc. Overall, our data reveals cocaine and morphine differentially alters diurnal rhythms of the proteome in the NAc, with largely independent differentially expressed proteins dependent on time-of-day. Pathways enriched from cocaine altered protein rhythms were primarily associated with glucocorticoid signaling and metabolism, whereas morphine was associated with neuroinflammation. Collectively, these findings are the first to characterize the diurnal regulation of the NAc proteome and demonstrate a novel relationship between phase-dependent regulation of protein expression and the differential effects of cocaine and morphine on the NAc proteome.
2023-07-20 | PXD042043 | Pride
Project description:Vulnerability to relapse during periods of attempted abstinence from cocaine use is hypothesized to result from rewiring of brain reward circuitries, particularly ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons. How cocaine exposures act on midbrain dopamine neurons to precipitate addiction-relevant changes in gene expression is unclear. We found that histone H3 glutamine 5 dopaminylation (H3Q5dop) plays a critical role in cocaine-induced transcriptional plasticity in midbrain. Rats undergoing withdrawal from cocaine showed an accumulation of H3Q5dop in VTA. By reducing H3Q5dop in VTA during withdrawal, we reversed cocaine-mediated gene expression changes, attenuated cue-induced dopamine release in nucleus accumbens and reduced cocaine-seeking behavior. These findings establish a neurotransmission-independent role for nuclear dopamine in relapse-related transcriptional plasticity in VTA.
2020-05-19 | GSE124055 | GEO
Project description:Global changes in gene expression that underlie the circuit and behavioral dysregulation associated with cocaine addiction remain incompletely understood. Here, we determined how a history of cocaine self-administration (SA) “re-programs” transcriptome-wide responses at baseline and in response to cocaine re-exposure after prolonged withdrawal (WD). We assigned male mice to one of six groups: saline or cocaine SA + 24 hr WD; or saline/cocaine SA + 30 d WD + an acute saline/cocaine challenge within the previous drug-paired context. RNA-seq was then conducted on six interconnected brain reward regions. We focused on patterns of gene expression that were altered by cocaine SA, in particular, molecular targets that show priming or desensitization upon re-exposure to cocaine. Genes that were affected uniquely by acute cocaine after cocaine SA+WD displayed region-specific regulation. The greatest number of regulated genes were seen in nucleus accumbens, dorsal striatum, and basolateral amygdala. Further analysis revealed several transcription factors as key upstream regulators in these three regions, including several not previously implicated in cocaine action. Regulation of subsets of these primed and desensitized genes correlated robustly with SA behavior displayed by individual mice. For example, analysis of transcriptome-wide expression changes revealed that genes associated with cocaine intake respond to contextual information in a region-specific manner. This comprehensive picture of transcriptome-wide regulation by cocaine SA and WD throughout the brain’s reward circuitry provides new insight into the molecular basis of cocaine addiction, which will guide future studies of the key molecular pathways involved.
2018-08-22 | GSE110344 | GEO
Project description:Environmental enrichment (EE) is a robust intervention for reducing cocaine-seeking behaviors in animals when given during abstinence. However, the mechanisms that underlie these effects have not been well-established. We investigated the adult male rat transcriptome using RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) following differential housing during abstinence from cocaine self-administration for either 1 or 21 days. Rats housed for 21 days of abstinence in EE displayed a significant reduction in cocaine-seeking behavior compared to rats housed in isolation. RNA-seq of the nucleus accumbens shell revealed hundreds of differentially regulated transcripts between rats of different abstinence length and housing environment, as well as within specific contrasts such as enrichment (isolated 21 days vs. enriched 21 days) or incubation (isolated 1 day vs. isolated 21 days). Ingenuity Pathway Analysis affirmed several pathways as differentially enriched based on housing condition and abstinence length including RELN, the Eif2 signaling pathway, synaptogenesis and neurogenesis pathways. Additionally, multiple pathways reversed their directionality between enrichment and incubation contrasts, potentially indicating oppositional roles across housing and abstinence length. Together, these findings reveal novel mechanisms potentially involved in the protective effects of EE against cocaine seeking, which may inform efforts to develop new pharmacological and gene therapies for treating cocaine use disorders.
2020-07-15 | GSE144606 | GEO