Urocortin-3 Neurons in the Mouse Perifornical Area Promote Infant-directed Neglect and Aggression
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE161552 | GEO | 2021/09/15
REPOSITORIES: GEO
Similar Datasets
Project description:Urocortin-3 Neurons in the Mouse Perifornical Area Promote Infant-directed Neglect and Aggression
| PRJNA678698 | ENA
Project description:Adverse experiences in childhood are associated with altered hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis function and negative health outcomes throughout life. It is now commonly accepted that abuse and neglect can alter epigenetic regulation of HPA genes. Accumulated evidence suggests harsh parenting practices such as spanking are also strong predictors of negative health outcomes. We predicted harsh parenting at 2.5 years old would predict HPA gene DNA methylation similarly to abuse and neglect, and cortisol output at 8.5 years old. Saliva samples were collected three times a day across three days to estimate cortisol diurnal slopes. Methylation was quantified using the Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC array BeadChip (850K) with DNA collected from buccal cells. We used principal components analysis to compute a summary statistic for CpG sites across candidate genes. The first and second components were used as outcome variables in mixed linear regression analyses with harsh parenting as a predictor variable. We found harsh parenting significantly predicted methylation of several HPA axis genes, including novel gene associations with AVPRB1, CRHR1, CRHR2, and MC2R (FDR corrected p < 0.05). Further, we found NR3C1 methylation predicted a steeper diurnal cortisol slope. Our results extend the current literature by demonstrating harsh parenting may influence DNA methylation similarly to more extreme early life experiences such as abuse and neglect. Further, we show NR3C1 methylation is associated with diurnal HPA function. Elucidating the molecular consequences of harsh parenting on health can inform best parenting practices and provide potential treatment targets for common complex disorders.
2021-04-01 | GSE147058 | GEO
Project description:While recent studies have uncovered dedicated neural pathways mediating the positive control of parenting, the regulation of infant-directed aggression and how it relates to adult-adult aggression is poorly understood. Here we show that urocortin-3 (Ucn3)-expressing neurons in the hypothalamic perifornical area (PeFAUcn3) are activated during infant-directed attacks in males and females, but not other behaviors. Functional manipulations of PeFAUcn3 neurons demonstrate the role of this population in the negative control of parenting in both sexes. PeFAUcn3 neurons receive input from areas associated with vomeronasal sensing, stress, and parenting, and send projections to hypothalamic and limbic areas. Optogenetic activation of PeFAUcn3 axon terminals in these regions triggers various aspects of infant-directed agonistic responses, such as neglect, repulsion, and aggression. Thus, PeFAUcn3 neurons emerge as a dedicated circuit component controlling infant-directed neglect and aggression, providing a new framework to understand the positive and negative regulation of parenting in health and disease.
| S-EPMC8452308 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Newborn mice emit signals that promote parenting from mothers and fathers but trigger aggressive responses from virgin males. Although pup-directed attacks by males require vomeronasal function, the specific infant cues that elicit this behavior are unknown. We developed a behavioral paradigm based on reconstituted pup cues and showed that discrete infant morphological features combined with salivary chemosignals elicit robust male aggression. Seven vomeronasal receptors were identified based on infant-mediated activity, and the involvement of two receptors, Vmn2r65 and Vmn2r88, in infant-directed aggression was demonstrated by genetic deletion. Using the activation of these receptors as readouts for biochemical fractionation, we isolated two pheromonal compounds, the submandibular gland protein C and hemoglobins. Unexpectedly, none of the identified vomeronasal receptors and associated cues were specific to pups. Thus, infant-mediated aggression by virgin males relies on the recognition of pup's physical traits in addition to parental and infant chemical cues.
| S-EPMC6558521 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Modulation of action choices according to the environmental context is crucial for animal survival and reproductive success1. Aggression, despite its general importance as a social behavior2, can become detrimental if uncontrolled3,4. However, the genetic and neural basis for aggression control through active suppression remains largely unknown. Here we found nvy, a Drosophila homolog of vertebrate myeloid translocation gene (MTG)5 involved in transcriptional regulation6-8, suppresses aggression through a specific subset of neurons. Mutation of the nvy gene resulted in hyper-aggressiveness, which was rescued by neuronal expression of human MTGs as well as Drosophila nvy. The mutant exhibited persistent aggression under various contexts in which wild-type flies switch their behavioral patterns. Knockdown of nvy in octopaminergic/tyraminergic (OA/TA) neurons increased aggression, phenocopying the nvy deletion. Cell-type specific transcriptomics on OA/TA neurons derived from the nvy mutants revealed aggression-controlling genes that are likely downstream of nvy. Moreover, we found that the nvy-expressing OA/TA neuronal subpopulations specifically suppress aggression. Our results presents a powerful genetic model to unravel not only the neuronal systems that modulate aggression in a social context-dependent manner, but also the conserved molecular mechanism underlying the tumorigenesis caused by the MTG mutations.
2022-06-22 | GSE148630 | GEO
Project description:Genes relevant to manifestion of and variation in aggression behavior might be differentially expressed in lines selected for divergent levels of aggression. Keywords: selection group
2006-08-30 | GSE5404 | GEO
Project description:High frequency of physical aggression is the central feature of severe conduct disorder and is associated with a wide range of social, mental and physical health problems. We have previously tested the hypothesis that differential DNA methylation signatures in peripheral T cells are associated with a chronic aggression trajectory in males. Despite the fact that sex differences appear to play a pivotal role in determining the development, magnitude and frequency of aggression, most of previous studies focused on males, so little is known about female chronic physical aggression. We therefore tested here whether or not there is a signature of physical aggression in female DNA methylation and, if there is, how it relates to the signature observed in males. Genome-wide promoter methylation profiles of T cell DNA from adult females on a Chronic Physical Aggression (CPA, n=5) trajectory during childhood and adolescence were compared to those on normative physical aggression trajectories (NPA, n=14). Two technical replicates were generated for each individual.
2013-12-11 | E-GEOD-53192 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:High frequency of physical aggression is the central feature of severe conduct disorder and is associated with a wide range of social, mental and physical health problems. We have previously tested the hypothesis that differential DNA methylation signatures in peripheral T cells are associated with a chronic aggression trajectory in males. Despite the fact that sex differences appear to play a pivotal role in determining the development, magnitude and frequency of aggression, most of previous studies focused on males, so little is known about female chronic physical aggression. We therefore tested here whether or not there is a signature of physical aggression in female DNA methylation and, if there is, how it relates to the signature observed in males. Genome-wide promoter methylation profiles of T cell DNA from adult males and females on a Chronic Physical Aggression (CPA) trajectory during childhood and adolescence were compared to adults on a normative physical aggression trajectories (NPA). Each sample was bisulphite converted gDNA pooled in equimolar amounts. Three different pools of genomic DNA were made per group: male CPA (2 or 3 different subjects per pool), male NPA (4 different subjects per pool), female CPA (2 different subjects per pool) and female NPA (4 or 5 different subjects per pool) . The Illumina Infinium 450k Human DNA methylation Beadchip was used to obtain DNA methylation profiles of the 2 groups in both sex.
2013-12-11 | E-GEOD-53191 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Animal and human studies suggest that inflammation is associated with behavioral disorders including aggression. We have recently shown that physical aggression of boys during childhood is strongly associated with reduced plasma levels of cytokines IL-1a, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10, later in early adulthood (Provencal et al., unpublished data). This study tests the hypothesis that there is an association between differential DNA methylation regions in cytokine genes in T cells and monocytes DNA in adult subjects and a trajectory of physical aggression from childhood to adolescence. We compared the methylation profiles of the entire genomic loci encompassing the IL-1a, IL-6, IL-4, IL10 and IL8 and three of their regulatory transcription factors (TF) NFkB1, NFAT5 and STAT6 genes in adult males on a chronic physical aggression trajectory (CPA) and males with the same background who followed a normal physical aggression trajectory (control group). We used the method of methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) with comprehensive cytokine gene loci and TF loci microarray hybridization, statistical analysis and false discovery rate correction. We recruited two groups of Caucasian males who were born in families with a low socioeconomic status and were living at the time of the present study within 200km from our laboratory. The first group, composed of 8 subjects, had a history of chronic physical aggression from age 6 to 15 years (chronic physical aggression group, CPA). The second group, composed of 12 subjects, was recruited from the same longitudinal studies but included only those who did not have a history of chronic physical aggression from age 6 to 15 (Control group, CG). Using custom-designed microarrays with 44K probes tiling cytokines IL-1a, IL-6, IL-4, IL10 and IL8 and three of their regulatory transcription factors (TF) NFkB1, NFAT5 and STAT6, we obtained DNA methylation profiles by meDIP-chip. Each profile was generated in triplicate.
2013-05-22 | E-GEOD-47193 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:High frequency of physical aggression is the central feature of severe conduct disorder and is associated with a wide range of social, mental and physical health problems. We have previously tested the hypothesis that differential DNA methylation signatures in peripheral T cells are associated with a chronic aggression trajectory in males. Despite the fact that sex differences appear to play a pivotal role in determining the development, magnitude and frequency of aggression, most of previous studies focused on males, so little is known about female chronic physical aggression. We therefore tested here whether or not there is a signature of physical aggression in female DNA methylation and, if there is, how it relates to the signature observed in males.
2013-12-11 | GSE53192 | GEO