Differential susceptibility to chronic social defeat stress relates to the number of Dnmt3a-immunoreactive neurons in the hippocampal dentate gyrus

AbstractThe enzyme DNA methyltransferase 3a (Dnmt3a) is crucially involved in DNA methylation and recent studies have demonstrated that Dnmt3a is functionally involved in mediating and moderating the impact of environmental exposures on gene expression and behavior. Findings in rodents have suggested that DNA methylation is involved in regulating neuronal proliferation and differentiation. So far, it has been shown that chronic social defeat might influence neurogenesis, while susceptibility to social defeat stress is dependent on gene expression changes in the nucleus accumbens and the mesolimbic dopaminergic system. However, the role of Dnmt3a herein has not been fully characterized. Our earlier immunohistochemical work has revealed the existence of two types of Dnmt3a-immunoreactive cells in the mouse hippocampus, of which one represents a distinct type with intense Dnmt3a-immunoreactivity (Dnmt3a type II cells) co-localizing with a marker of recent proliferation. Based on this, we hypothesize that behavioral susceptibility to chronic social defeat stress is linked to (i) Dnmt3a protein levels in the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus, and (ii) to the density of Dnmt3a type II cells in the hippocampal dentate gyrus. While no differences were found in global levels of Dnmt3a protein expression in the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus, our stereological quantifications indicated a significantly increased density of Dnmt3a type II cells in the dentate gyrus of animals resilient to social defeat stress compared to susceptible and control animals. Further characterization of the Dnmt3a type II cells revealed that these cells were mostly doublecortin (25%) or NeuN (60%) immunopositive, thus defining them as immature and mature neurons. Moreover, negative associations between the density of Dnmt3a type II cells and indices of depressive-like behavior in the sucrose intake and forced swim test were found. These correlational data suggest that DNA methylation via Dnmt3a in the hippocampus co-regulates adaptivity of the behavioral response to chronic social defeat stress, and set the stage for further experimental studies testing a mediating role of Dnmt3a in experience-dependent plasticity, neurogenesis and (mal) adaptation to severe stressors

Defeat stress in rodents: From behavior to molecules

Mood and anxiety disorders are prevalent conditions affecting one out of four people during lifetime. The development of high validity animal models to study these disorders has been a major challenge in the past. When considering experimental approaches for studying affective disorders, the social defeat paradigm has been shown to have etiological, predictive and face validity. Here, we explain the general principle of social defeat stress paradigms, with a strong focus on the resident-intruder model and compare different experimental settings as published to date. We discuss behavioral changes described in defeated animals as well as changes in the animal's physiological parameters. In addition, we provide an overview of the molecular adaptations that are found in animals subjected to defeat stress, with special attention to neural circuits and neuroendocrine signaling. Defeat produces specific behaviors resembling the signs and symptoms of humans with affective disorders, such as anhedonia, social avoidance, despair and anxiety. These can be linked to a wide range of physiological changes-ranging from cardiovascular changes to alterations in the immune system- or by disturbances in specific neurotransmitter systems, in particular serotonin and dopamine. The defeat stress model thus impacts on several functional domains of behavior and may mimic cardinal features of a multitude of psychiatric disorders including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia. This manuscript critically reviews the core findings, strengths and limitations of the range of animal studies in this field and provides future perspectives.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Defeat stress in rodents: From behavior to molecules journaltitle: Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.10.006 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.status: publishe