Project description:Opioid use is detrimental to bone health, causing both indirect and direct effects on bone turnover. The aim of the study was to develop a mouse model to evaluate the impact of sustained morphine exposure on bone turnover of both male and female mice and to identify candidate miRNA-mediated regulatory mechanisms that could affect bone.
Project description:Using an oral self-administration paradigm, we have seen morphine increase neural activity in the Paraventricular Nucleus of the Thalamus (PVT). Morphine binds primarily to Mu Opioid Receptors (MORs), which are highly expressed in the PVT. Translating Ribosome Affinity Purification (TRAP)-Sequencing was conducted on PVT neurons that express MORs
Project description:Environmentally induced epigenetic changes can lead to health problems or disease, but the mechanisms involved remain unclear. Morphine can pass through the placental barrier leading to abnormal embryo development. However, the mechanism by which morphine causes these effects and how the sometimes persist into the adulthood is not well known. To unravel the morphine-induced chromatin alterations involved in aberrant embryo development, we explore the role of H3K27me3/PRC2 repressive complex in gene expression and its transmission across cellular generations in response to morphine. Using mouse embryonic stem cells as a model system, we find that chronic morphine treatment (24h) induces a global down-regulation of the histone modification H3K27me3. Conversely, ChIP-seq showed a remarkable increase in H3K27me3 levels at certain genomic sites, particularly promoters, disrupting selective target genes related to embryo development, cell cycle and metabolism. By a self-regulatory mechanism, transcription of components of the PRC2 complex responsible for H3K27me3 methylation, were consistently down-regulated by morphine, with high promoter levels of H3K27me3. Down-regulation of PRC2 components persisted for at least 48h (4 cell cycles) following morphine removal, though promoter H3K27me3 returned to control levels. Morphine induces targeting of PRC2 complex to selected promoters, including those of PRC2 components, leading to characteristic changes in gene expression and global reduction in H3K27me3. Following morphine removal, enhanced promoter H3K227me3 levels revert to normal sooner than global H3K27me3 or transcript levels of PRC2 components. We suggest that H3K27me3 is involved in initiating morphine induced changes in gene expression but not in their maintenance.
Project description:Purpose: The goals of this study were to identify gene expression signatures that are unique to Tregs from mice upon treatments with smoke, morphine and smoke plus morphine Methods and results: Wild-type mice were treated with cigarette smoke (SM) for a period of eight weeks, and/or the chronic continuous administration of morphine (M) via mini-pumps for the final four weeks CD4+CD25highCD127low Tregs from spleen were purified by cell sorting to generate mRNA transcription. Transcriptional profiling revealed a unique Treg signatures in SM, M or SM + M relative to control mice. Conclusion: Our study represents the first detailed analysis of splenic Treg transcriptome in mice exposure to smoke plus morphine.
Project description:Microarray analysis for circRNA expression in the spinal cord was conducted and compared between 4 morphine tolerated rats and 4 normal rats
Project description:Critically ill preterm infants experience multiple stressors while hospitalized. Morphine is commonly prescribed to ameliorate their pain and stress. We hypothesized that neonatal stress will have a dose-dependent effect on hippocampal gene expression, and these effects will be altered by morphine treatment. Male C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 5 treatment conditions between postnatal day 5 and 9: 1) Control, 2) mild stress + saline, 3) mild stress + morphine, 4) severe stress + saline and 5) severe stress + morphine. Hippocampal RNA was extracted and analyzed using Affymetrix Mouse Gene 1.0 ST Arrays. Single gene analysis and gene set analysis were used to compare groups with validation by qPCR. Stress resulted in enrichment of genes sets related to fear response, oxygen carrying capacity and NMDA receptor synthesis. Morphine downregulated gene sets related to immune function. Stress plus morphine resulted in enrichment of mitochondrial electron transport gene sets, and down-regulation of gene sets related to brain development and growth. We conclude that neonatal stress alone influences hippocampal gene expression, morphine alters a subset of stress-related changes in gene expression and influences other gene sets. Stress plus morphine show interaction effects not present with either stimulus alone. These changes may alter neurodevelopment. Male mice were exposed to 5 treatment conditions between postnatal day (P)5 and P9 (n=3/group), with birth recorded as P1. Litters were culled to n=7 maximum per dam. Groups included: 1) Untreated controls (CC), 2) mild stress + saline (MSS), 3) mild stress + morphine (MSM), 4) severe stress + saline (SSS) and 5) severe stress + morphine (SSM).
Project description:The current study aimed at addressing two questions: 1) How the expression of key lncRNAs is altered in the NAc during the morphine-induced addiction? 2) Which is/are the target gene(s) and what is/are the regulatory mechanism(s) of gene(s) in response to the candidate lncRNAs? To answer these two questions, the morphine addiction model was first established by using the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm. Then, the aberrant expression of lncRNAs was identified in the NAc tissue by RNA-sequencing.
Project description:Critically ill preterm infants experience multiple stressors while hospitalized. Morphine is commonly prescribed to ameliorate their pain and stress. We hypothesized that neonatal stress will have a dose-dependent effect on hippocampal gene expression, and these effects will be altered by morphine treatment. Male C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 5 treatment conditions between postnatal day 5 and 9: 1) Control, 2) mild stress + saline, 3) mild stress + morphine, 4) severe stress + saline and 5) severe stress + morphine. Hippocampal RNA was extracted and analyzed using Affymetrix Mouse Gene 1.0 ST Arrays. Single gene analysis and gene set analysis were used to compare groups with validation by qPCR. Stress resulted in enrichment of genes sets related to fear response, oxygen carrying capacity and NMDA receptor synthesis. Morphine downregulated gene sets related to immune function. Stress plus morphine resulted in enrichment of mitochondrial electron transport gene sets, and down-regulation of gene sets related to brain development and growth. We conclude that neonatal stress alone influences hippocampal gene expression, morphine alters a subset of stress-related changes in gene expression and influences other gene sets. Stress plus morphine show interaction effects not present with either stimulus alone. These changes may alter neurodevelopment.