Project description:DNA methylation profiling of low versus high pregnancy anxiety (22 versus 23 cord blood samples, respectively) using the Illumina Infinium HM450 array
Project description:A cohort of adolescents and young adults took part in this longitudinal 5-year follow-up study. We selected four groups of subjects from the same community sample carefully paired by age and gender: (1) Typically Developing Adolescent (n=14); (2) Incident Anxiety Disorder (n=11); (3) Persistent Anxiety Disorder (n=14); (4) Remittent Anxiety Disorder (n=8).
Project description:Our study represents the first detailed analysis of transcriptomes between poststroke anxiety and General Anxiety by RNA-seq technology. We founded that: compared with pure restraint stress, stroke plus restraint stress leaded to other pathways: 1) Oxidative stress and redox pathways are out-of-balance; 2). Production of nitric oxide is disordered; 3). Mitochondrial ATP synthesis is coupled with electron transport pathway dysfunction. These upregulated genes analyzed integrally were greatly enriched in the regulation of cytokine production, inflammatory response and leukocyte infiltration. And our results detailly predicted downstream transcriptional differences with HDAC3 inhibitor treatment or not in poststroke anxiety. We concluded that HDAC3-regulated PGE2 production by microglia constitutes phobic anxiety susceptibility after stroke.
Project description:Investigating the molecular basis and correlates of anxiety-related and depression-like behaviors, we generated a mouse model consisting of high (HAB) and low (LAB) anxiety-related behavior mice. We utilized the elevated plus-maze for testing the genetic predisposition to anxiety-related behavior and, consequently, used this as selection criterion for the inbreeding of our animals. In depression-related tests, HAB mice display a more passive, depression-like coping strategy than LAB mice, resembling clinical comorbidity of anxiety and depression as observed in psychiatric patients. Using a microarray approach, the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN), the basolateral/lateral (BLA), the medial (MeA) and central amygdala (CeA), the nucleus accumbens (NAc), the cingulate cortex (Cg) and the supraoptic nucleus (SON) – centers of the central nervous anxiety and fear circuitries – were investigated and screened for differences between HAB and LAB mice. Analysis was performed from six animals per line (HAB and LAB, respectively) pooled per brain region in ten technical replicates, thereof five with a dye-swapped design giving a total of 70 array slides analyzed. The LAB mouse line is referred to as reference.
Project description:A prFunctional embryo-maternal interactions occur during the embryo implantation and placentation. Extracellular vesicles with microRNA (miRNA) between cells have been considered of crtital importance for embro implantation and programming of human pregnancy We used microarrays to investigate miRNAs expression during early pregnancy
Project description:Both the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) have been implicated in maladaptive anxiety characteristic of anxiety disorders. However, the underlying circuit and cellular mechanisms have remained elusive. Here we show that mice with Erbb4 gene deficiency in somatostatin-expressing (SOM+) neurons exhibit heightened anxiety as measured in the elevated plus maze test and the open field test, two assays commonly used to assess anxiety-related behaviors in rodents. Using a combination of electrophysiological, molecular, genetic and pharmacological techniques we demonstrate that the abnormal anxiety in the mutant mice is caused by enhanced excitatory synaptic inputs onto SOM+ neurons in the central amygdala (CeA), and the resulting reduction in inhibition onto downstream SOM+ neurons in the BNST. Notably, our results indicate that an increase in dynorphin signaling in SOM+ CeA neurons mediates the paradoxical reduction in inhibition onto SOM+ BNST neurons, and that the consequent enhanced activity of SOM+ BNST neurons is both necessary for and sufficient to drive the elevated anxiety. Finally, we show that the elevated anxiety and the associated synaptic dysfunctions and increased dynorphin signaling in the CeA-BNST circuit of the Erbb4 mutant mice can be recapitulated by stress in wild-type mice. Together, our results unravel previously unknown circuit and cellular processes in the central extended amygdala that can cause maladaptive anxiety.
Project description:ATAC-seq analysis of CD8 T cells after pregnancy-induced tolerance/hypofunction. The goal of this experiment was to compare the epigenetic effect of pregnancy on naive vs. memory fetus-specific CD8 T cells. We also included naive and skin-sensitized CD8 T cells (without pregnancy) as controls.
