Serotonergic genes in the development of anxiety/depression-like state and pathology of aggressive behavior in male mice: RNA-seq data

• Published in: Molecular biology (New York) Vol. 51; no. 2; pp. 251 - 262
• Main Authors: Kudryavtseva, N. N., Smagin, D. A., Kovalenko, I. L., Galyamina, A. G., Vishnivetskaya, G. B., Babenko, V. N., Orlov, Yu. L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01.03.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aggressive behavior; Aggressiveness; Anxiety; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Brain; Brain-derived neurotrophic factor; Data processing; Dopamine receptors; Gene expression; Genes; Genomics. Transcriptomics; Hip; HTR1B gene; Human Genetics; Hypothalamus; Inactivation; Life Sciences; Mental depression; Mesencephalon; Mice; Neostriatum; Pathology; Raphe nuclei; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Rodents; Serotonin; Ventral tegmentum; whole transcriptome; anxiety; striatum; hippocampus; ventral tegmental area; serotonergic genes; midbrain raphe nuclei; social stress; depression; aggression; hypothalamus
• ISSN: 0026-8933; 1608-3245
• DOI: 10.1134/S0026893317020133

In course of daily agonistic interactions, mice tend to stratify into those with chronic social defeats and those that repeatedly display aggression, which lead to the development of mixed anxiety/depression-like state and the pathology of aggressive behavior, respectively. Using the data of whole transcriptome analysis (RNA-seq), the changes in the expression of serotonergic genes involved in the synthesis, inactivation, and reception of serotonin, as well as of the Creb1 (transcription factor) gene and the Bdnf (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) gene were detected in the striatum (STR), ventral tegmental area (VTA), midbrain raphe nuclei (MRN), hypothalamus (HYP), and hippocampus (HIP) of defeated and aggressive male mice. In mice of both groups, the Tph2 , Ddc , Slc6a4 , Htr2a , Htr3a , Htr5b , Slc18a2 , and Bdnf genes were downregulated in the MRN and the Tph2 , Ddc , and Slc6a4 genes were upregulated in the VTA. These changes were more significant in defeated mice. The Htr5b gene has first been shown to be involved in mechanisms of depression and pathology of aggressive behavior. In the defeated mice, the expression levels of the Htr4 and Aldh1b1 genes were increased in the MRN, and expression levels of the Maob , Htr4 , Htr1a , and Slc18a2 genes were increased in the VTA, while the expression level of the Htr3a gene was decreased. In the HYP of aggressive mice the Maoa , Htr2a , Htr2c , and Creb1 genes were downregulated and the Htr6 gene was upregulated. In the defeated mice, the Maoa and Creb1 genes were downregulated and the Htr6 and Aldh1b1 genes were upregulated in the HYP. In the STR, the Htr1a gene was downregulated and the Htr7 and Bdnf genes were upregulated. The Htr1b gene was upregulated in the HIP. The coexpression of dopaminergic and serotonergic genes in the MRN and VTA in the control of pathological behaviors is discussed. Thus, the complex pattern of differential expression of serotonergic genes in brain regions developing under repeated agonistic interactions in mice in dependence on behavioral pathology have been observed