Cited by 113Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorStress Responses and CortisolTreatment of Major Depression

Cell-Type-Specific Epigenetic Editing at the Fosb Gene Controls Susceptibility to Social Defeat Stress

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Hamilton, Peter J, Burek, Dominika J, Lombroso, Sonia I, Neve, Rachael L, Robison, Alfred J, Nestler, Eric J, Heller, Elizabeth A·2018·Neuropsychopharmacology

Abstract

Chronic social defeat stress regulates the expression of Fosb in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) to promote the cell-type-specific accumulation of ΔFosB in the two medium spiny neuron (MSN) subtypes in this region. ΔFosB is selectively induced in D1-MSNs in the NAc of resilient mice, and in D2-MSNs of susceptible mice. However, little is known about the consequences of such selective induction, particularly in D2-MSNs. This study examined how cell-type-specific control of the endogenous Fosb gene in NAc regulates susceptibility to social defeat stress. Histone post-translational modifications (HPTMs) were targeted specifically to Fosb using engineered zinc-finger proteins (ZFPs). Fosb-ZFPs were fused to either the transcriptional repressor, G9a, which promotes histone methylation or the transcriptional activator, p65, which promotes histone acetylation. These ZFPs were expressed in D1- vs D2-MSNs using Cre-dependent viral expression in the NAc of mice transgenic for Cre recombinase in these MSN subtypes. We found that stress susceptibility is oppositely regulated by the specific cell type and HPTM targeted. We report that Fosb-targeted histone acetylation in D2-MSNs or histone methylation in D1-MSNs promotes a stress-susceptible, depressive-like phenotype, while histone methylation in D2-MSNs or histone acetylation in D1-MSNs increases resilience to social stress as quantified by social interaction behavior and sucrose preference. This work presents the first demonstration of cell- and gene-specific targeting of histone modifications, which model naturally occurring transcriptional phenomena that control social defeat stress behavior. This epigenetic-editing approach, which recapitulates physiological changes in gene expression, reveals clear differences in the social defeat phenotype induced by Fosb gene manipulation in MSN subtypes.

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Authors
Hamilton, P. J., Burek, D. J., Lombroso, S. I., Neve, R. L., Robison, A. J., Nestler, E. J., & Heller, E. A.
Affiliations
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
  • University of Pennsylvania (US)
  • McGovern Institute for Brain Research (US)
  • Michigan State University (US)
Corresponding author
Heller, Elizabeth A
Venue
Neuropsychopharmacology
Published
2017-05-02
Volume
43
Issue
2
Pages
272-284
ISSN
  • 0893-133X (ISSN-L)
  • 1740-634X
OpenAlex
W2611897471
Cited by
113
References
52
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 19
FWCI
6.56
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute of Mental Health (P50MH096890, R01MH051399, R01MH111604)
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (DP1DA044250, R37DA007359, F32DA035518, P01DA008227, R01DA007359, R01DA040621)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
Keywords
FosB, ΔFosB, social defeat stress, nucleus accumbens, medium spiny neurons, histone acetylation, histone methylation, epigenome editing, zinc finger proteins, G9a, NF-κB p65, stress resilience, depression-like behavior, sucrose preference, social interaction behavior
MeSH terms
Animals, Behavior, Animal, Depression, Disease Models, Animal, Disease Susceptibility, Dominance-Subordination, Male, Mice, Transgenic, Nucleus Accumbens, Phenotype, Stress, Psychological, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos, Receptors, Dopamine D1, Receptors, Dopamine D2, Epigenesis, Genetic, Mice

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