Project description:The effect of photoperiod on gene expression was assessed in punch samples of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and medial preoptic area. Long day mice were housed in 16L:8D and short day mice were housed in 8L:16D. Experiment Overall Design: For the medial preoptic area, independent samples were collected from long day (n=3) and short day (n=3) mice. For the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis independent samples were collected from long day (n=3) and short day (n=2) mice.
Project description:Purpose: This study assessed putative sex differences in miRNA expression in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST)—a sexually dimorphic brain region implicated in anxiety—of adult male and female rats that had been exposed throughout adolescence to social isolation (SI) stress. Methods: Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats underwent SI during adolescence or remained grouped housed (GH) till adulthood. Small RNA sequencing was performed on tissue extracted from the anterodorsal BNST. Results: SI compared to GH induced more anxiogenic-like effects in females compared to males and sex-dependent changes in miRNA expression in the BNST. Conclusions: The current study shows that housing conditions (either SI or GH) during adolescence regulates miRNA expression in a sex-specific manner in the sexually dimorphic area of the adBNST
