Project description:CUT&RUN was used to profile the epigenetic status of cells in human adult neurons (n=3) by measuring enirchment of H3K4me3 and H3K9me3 epigenetic marks over a non-targeting (IgG) control.
Project description:Schizophrenia-associated anomalies in gene expression in postmortem brain are caused by a combination of genetic and environmental influences. Given the small effect size of common variants it is likely that we may only see the combined impact of some of these at the pathway level in small postmortem studies. However, at the gene level we will see more impact from common environmental risk factors mediated by influential epigenomic modifiers. In this study we examine changes in cortical gene expression to identify regulatory interactions and networks associated with the disorder. Gene expression analysis in post-mortem prefrontal dorsolateral cortex (BA 46) (n=74 matched pairs of schizophrenia, schizoaffective and control samples) was performed using Illumina HT12 gene expression microarrays. Significant gene interaction networks were identified for differentially expressed genes in pathways of neurodevelopmental and oligodendrocyte function.
Project description:FTLD-U is the most common pathological correlate of the neurodegenerative dementia frontotemporal dementia; We used microarrays to perform global expression profiling of FTLD-U brain samples Experiment Overall Design: Postmortem brain samples were isolated from normal controls, FTLD-U patients with progranulin gene mutations (progranulin) and FTLD-U patients without progranulin gene mutations (sporadic). Regional dissections were carried out from frontal cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum.
Project description:We used the Illumina 450KMethylation BeadChip to measure DNA methylation at 485,512 loci across the genome for 40 postmortem brain samples. The purpose of our study was to identify differentially methylated regions (DMRs) associated with autism. Samples included 16 temporal cortex brain tissue samples (6 cases and 10 controls), 11 prefrontal cortex brain tissue samples (6 cases and 5 controls), and 13 cerebellum brain tissue samples (7 cases and 6 controls).
Project description:Background: Molecular adaptations in the striatum mediated by dopamine (DA) denervation or Levodopa (L-dopa) treatment have been implicated with the motor deficits found in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Alterations in glutamatergic neurotransmission and anti-oxidant mechanisms are reported to play important roles in mediating these changes. However, the mechanisms mediating the molecular adaptations in the striatum are not well understood. In recent years, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been recognized as potent post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression with fundamental roles in numerous biological processes. miRNAs are known to influence the development and maintenance of striatal neurons. To determine the contribution of miRNAs in molecular adaptations found in PD, we screened the expression of 800 miRNAs in postmortem striatum samples obtained from PD and neurologically normal controls. We detected the expression of approximately 250 miRNAs in postmortem human putamen samples collected from patients with PD and healthy controls. There was an abundance of a subset of 17 miRNAs (10 up- and 7 down-regulated) differing substantially between PD and the control, suggesting that miRNAs are altered in the striatum during the course of PD. Computational analysis show that many of these miRNAs targets pro-inflammatory factors in the striatum. Therefore, we sought to detrmine the expression of experimentally validated pro-inflammatory transcripts in PD striatum. Methods: Using a digital gene expression platform to quantify 134 gene transcripts, we compared human postmortem putamen tissues from patients with PD and neurologically normal controls. Results: We identified deregulated expression of 10 gene transcripts (4 up- and 6 down-regulated mRNAs) in postmortem human putamen samples collected fromPD patients compared to controls. The expression of these genes negative correlates with the expression of many of the differentially epxressed miRNAs. Moreover, many of these genes are predicted targets of the differentially expressed miRNAs. Conclusions: We identified deregulated mRNAs most likely associated with anti-oxidant mechanims in PD striatum. This approach may provide insights into pathogenesis of the disease.
Project description:BackgroundThe nervous system may include more than 100 residue-specific posttranslational modifications of histones forming the nucleosome core that are often regulated in cell-type-specific manner. On a genome-wide scale, some of the histone posttranslational modification landscapes show significant overlap with the genetic risk architecture for several psychiatric disorders, fueling PsychENCODE and other large-scale efforts to comprehensively map neuronal and nonneuronal epigenomes in hundreds of specimens. However, practical guidelines for efficient generation of histone chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by deep sequencing (ChIP-seq) datasets from postmortem brains are needed.MethodsProtocols and quality controls are given for the following: 1) extraction, purification, and NeuN neuronal marker immunotagging of nuclei from adult human cerebral cortex; 2) fluorescence-activated nuclei sorting; 3) preparation of chromatin by micrococcal nuclease digest; 4) ChIP for open chromatin-associated histone methylation and acetylation; and 5) generation and sequencing of ChIP-seq libraries.ResultsWe present a ChIP-seq pipeline for epigenome mapping in the neuronal and nonneuronal nuclei from the postmortem brain. This includes a stepwise system of quality controls and user-friendly data presentation platforms.ConclusionsOur practical guidelines will be useful for projects aimed at histone posttranslational modification mapping in chromatin extracted from hundreds of postmortem brain samples in cell-type-specific manner.
Project description:Background: Molecular adaptations in the striatum mediated by dopamine (DA) denervation or Levodopa (L-dopa) treatment have been implicated with the motor deficits found in Parkinsonâs disease (PD). Alterations in glutamatergic neurotransmission and anti-oxidant mechanisms are reported to play important roles in mediating these changes. However, the mechanisms mediating the molecular adaptations in the striatum are not well understood. In recent years, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been recognized as potent post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression with fundamental roles in numerous biological processes. miRNAs are known to influence the development and maintenance of striatal neurons. To determine the contribution of miRNAs in molecular adaptations found in PD, we screened the expression of 800 miRNAs in postmortem striatum samples obtained from PD and neurologically normal controls. We detected the expression of approximately 250 miRNAs in postmortem human putamen samples collected from patients with PD and healthy controls. There was an abundance of a subset of 17 miRNAs (10 up- and 7 down-regulated) differing substantially between PD and the control, suggesting that miRNAs are altered in the striatum during the course of PD. Computational analysis show that many of these miRNAs targets pro-inflammatory factors in the striatum. Therefore, we sought to detrmine the expression of experimentally validated pro-inflammatory transcripts in PD striatum. Methods: Using a digital gene expression platform to quantify 134 gene transcripts, we compared human postmortem putamen tissues from patients with PD and neurologically normal controls. Results: We identified deregulated expression of 10 gene transcripts (4 up- and 6 down-regulated mRNAs) in postmortem human putamen samples collected fromPD patients compared to controls. The expression of these genes negative correlates with the expression of many of the differentially epxressed miRNAs. Moreover, many of these genes are predicted targets of the differentially expressed miRNAs. Conclusions: We identified deregulated mRNAs most likely associated with anti-oxidant mechanims in PD striatum. This approach may provide insights into pathogenesis of the disease. Human postmortem putamen tissues from 12 patients with PD symptoms and 12 neurologically normal controls were used in the study. Samples were obtained from the Human Brain and Spinal Fluid Resource Center, Los Angeles, CA through NIH NeuroBioBank, and stored at -80°C until RNA isolation. Total RNA was extracted using the mirVana RNA isolation kit, following the manufacturerâs instructions (Ambion). Using 225ng total RNA, mRNA levels were assayed by direct digital detection using Nanostring nCounter assay kits (Nanostring Technologies).