Early life stress during the neonatal period alters social play and Line1 during the juvenile stage of development

Early life stress (ELS) has been shown to have a significant impact on typical brain development and the manifestation of psychological disorders through epigenetic modifications that alter gene expression. Line1, a retrotransposon associated with genetic diversity, has been linked with various psyc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2021-02, Vol.11 (1), p.3549-3549, Article 3549
Main Authors: Cuarenta, Amelia, Kigar, Stacey L., Henion, Ian C., Chang, Liza, Bakshi, Vaishali P., Auger, Anthony P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/378/1804/1805
631/378/3919
Affective disorders
Amygdala
Copy number
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Developmental stages
DNA
Epigenetics
Gene expression
Genetic diversity
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Neonates
Odor
Prefrontal cortex
Retrotransposition
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
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Summary:Early life stress (ELS) has been shown to have a significant impact on typical brain development and the manifestation of psychological disorders through epigenetic modifications that alter gene expression. Line1, a retrotransposon associated with genetic diversity, has been linked with various psychological disorders that are associated with ELS. Our previous work demonstrated altered Line1 DNA copy number in the neonatal period following stressful experiences; we therefore chose to investigate whether early life stress altered Line1 retrotransposition persists into the juvenile period of development. Our study uses a neonatal predator odor exposure (POE) paradigm to model ELS in rats. We examined Line1 using qPCR to assess Line1 expression levels and DNA copy number in the male and female juvenile amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex—areas chosen for their association with affective disorders and stress. We report a sex difference in Line1 levels within the juvenile amygdala. We also find that ELS significantly increases Line1 DNA copy number within the juvenile amygdala which correlates with reduced juvenile social play levels, suggesting the possibility that Line1 may influence juvenile social development.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-82953-3