Cited by 109Stress Responses and CortisolEpigenetics and DNA MethylationGenomics and Chromatin Dynamics

Long-term behavioral and cell-type-specific molecular effects of early life stress are mediated by H3K79me2 dynamics in medium spiny neurons

Open access
Kronman, Hope, Torres-Berrío, Angélica, Sidoli, Simone, Issler, Orna, Godino, Arthur, Ramakrishnan, Aarthi, Mews, Philipp, Lardner, Casey K. +10 more·2021·Nature Neuroscience

Abstract

Animals susceptible to chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) exhibit depression-related behaviors, with aberrant transcription across several limbic brain regions, most notably in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Early life stress (ELS) promotes susceptibility to CSDS in adulthood, but associated enduring changes in transcriptional control mechanisms in the NAc have not yet been investigated. In this study, we examined long-lasting changes to histone modifications in the NAc of male and female mice exposed to ELS. Dimethylation of lysine 79 of histone H3 (H3K79me2) and the enzymes (DOT1L and KDM2B) that control this modification are enriched in D2-type medium spiny neurons and are shown to be crucial for the expression of ELS-induced stress susceptibility. We mapped the site-specific regulation of this histone mark genome wide to reveal the transcriptional networks it modulates. Finally, systemic delivery of a small molecule inhibitor of DOT1L reversed ELS-induced behavioral deficits, indicating the clinical relevance of this epigenetic mechanism.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s41593-021-00814-8

Cites

63 of 63 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Enduring transcriptional alterations were observed in the ventral tegmental area in early life stress, mediated by the developmental transcription factor OTX2.

    “Enduring transcriptional alterations were observed in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in ELS, mediated by the developmental transcription factor orthodenticle homeobox 2 (OTX2).”

    From Epigenetic regulation in major depression and other stress-related disorders: molecular mechanisms, clinical relevance and therapeutic potential (2023) · cites this paper as [211]

    The Introduction and Discussion report lasting ELS-related transcriptional changes in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). They identify H3K79me2 dynamics and Dot1l, not OTX2, as the mechanism studied. The cited paper therefore supports the general claim of enduring transcriptional effects of ELS, but not the specified VTA location or OTX2 mediation. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Early life stress-induced depression susceptibility was caused by decreased H3K79me2 and induction of DOT1L and KDM2B enzymes in D2-type medium spiny neurons.

    “ELS-induced depression susceptibility was caused by decreased histone methylation (H3K79me2) and induction of the DOT1L and KDM2B enzymes that regulate this histone methylation in D2-type medium spiny neurons.”

    From Epigenetic regulation in major depression and other stress-related disorders: molecular mechanisms, clinical relevance and therapeutic potential (2023) · cites this paper as [211]

    The Results report ELS-induced DOT1L and KDM2B expression in D2 medium spiny neurons, and the Discussion links their manipulation to stress susceptibility. The Discussion reports decreased total H3K79me2 in the nucleus accumbens, but says this was not measured specifically in D2 neurons; it also describes both gains and losses of the mark across genomic sites. The claim therefore overstates the evidence that decreased H3K79me2 in D2 neurons caused the susceptibility. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Stressful experiences early in life can affect future behavior by influencing the rates of gene transcription and translation in brain cells.

    “Another recent publication offers evidence of the potential for stressful experiences early in life to affect future behavior by influencing the rates of gene transcription and translation in brain cells [24].”

    From Genes, Heritability, ‘Race’, and Intelligence: Misapprehensions and Implications (2022) · cites this paper as [24]

    The Introduction and Discussion (pages not provided) link early-life stress to altered gene transcription in nucleus accumbens neurons and greater susceptibility to stress-related behavior in adult mice. The paper does not establish that altered rates of translation mediate those behavioral effects, so that part of the claim is unsupported. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Systemic delivery of DOT1L inhibitor reversed early life stress-induced behavioral deficits without detectable side effects, suggesting a potential therapeutic target.

    “systemic delivery of DOT1L inhibitor reversed ELS-induced behavioral deficits without detectable side effects, suggesting a potential therapeutic target.211”
  • The same stress model revealed long-lasting histone modifications in the NAc after early life stress.

    “The same stress model211 revealed long-lasting histone modifications in the NAc after ELS.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [29]Zhang Y Dopamine Receptor D2 and Associated microRNAs Are Involved in Stress Susceptibility and Resistance to Escitalopram Treatment. Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol 18, pyv025– pyv025 (2015). 25740916 PMC4571637

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Kronman, H., Torres-Berrío, A., Sidoli, S., Issler, O., Godino, A., Ramakrishnan, A., Mews, P., Lardner, C. K., Parise, E. M., Walker, D. M., van der Zee, Y. Y., Browne, C. J., Boyce, B. F., Neve, R., Garcia, B. A., Shen, L., Peña, C. J., & Nestler, E. J.
Affiliations
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
  • Albert Einstein College of Medicine (US)
  • New York State Psychiatric Institute (US)
  • Oregon Health & Science University (US)
  • Massachusetts General Hospital (US)
  • University of Pennsylvania (US)
  • Princeton University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Peña, Catherine J.
  • Nestler, Eric J.
Venue
Nature Neuroscience
Published
2021-03-15
Volume
24
Issue
5
Pages
667-676
ISSN
  • 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-1726
OpenAlex
W3139250185
Cited by
108
References
62
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 12
FWCI
12.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Merck
  • Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development
  • New York Academy of Sciences
  • Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
  • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Mental Health (K99DA042100, R00MH115096, P50MH096890, R01MH051399)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
Keywords
early life stress, chronic social defeat stress, H3K79me2, histone modifications, DOT1L, KDM2B, D2 medium spiny neurons, nucleus accumbens, depression vulnerability, epigenetic regulation, transcriptional regulatory networks, DOT1L inhibitors, sex differences
MeSH terms
Animals, Gene Expression Regulation, Histones, Male, Neurons, Nucleus Accumbens, Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase, Stress, Psychological, Receptors, Dopamine D1, Receptors, Dopamine D2, F-Box Proteins, Mice, Histone Demethylases, Jumonji Domain-Containing Histone Demethylases

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review