Aberrant NMDA receptor DNA methylation detected by epigenome-wide analysis of hippocampus and prefrontal cortex in major depression

Current perspectives on the molecular underpinnings of major depressive disorder (MDD) posit a mechanistic role of epigenetic DNA modifications in mediating the interaction between environmental risk factors and a genetic predisposition. However, conclusive evidence for differential methylation sign...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience 2015-06, Vol.265 (4), p.331-341
Main Authors: Kaut, Oliver, Schmitt, Ina, Hofmann, Andrea, Hoffmann, Per, Schlaepfer, Thomas E., Wüllner, Ullrich, Hurlemann, René
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Depressive Disorder, Major - pathology
DNA Methylation
Epigenesis, Genetic - genetics
Female
Gene Expression Regulation - physiology
Hippocampus - metabolism
Humans
Male
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Microarray Analysis
Middle Aged
Netherlands
Neurosciences
Original Paper
Postmortem Changes
Prefrontal Cortex - metabolism
Psychiatry
Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate - genetics
Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate - metabolism
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Summary:Current perspectives on the molecular underpinnings of major depressive disorder (MDD) posit a mechanistic role of epigenetic DNA modifications in mediating the interaction between environmental risk factors and a genetic predisposition. However, conclusive evidence for differential methylation signatures in the brain’s epigenome of MDD patients as compared to controls is still lacking. To address this issue, we conducted a pilot study including an epigenome-wide methylation analysis in six individuals diagnosed with recurrent MDD and six control subjects matched for age and gender, with a priori focus on the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex as pathophysiologically relevant candidate regions. Our analysis revealed differential methylation profiles of 11 genes in hippocampus and 20 genes in prefrontal cortex, five of which were selected for replication of the methylation status using pyrosequencing. Among these replicated targets, GRIN2A was found to be hypermethylated in both prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. This finding may be of particular functional relevance as GRIN2A encodes the glutamatergic N -methyl- d -aspartate receptor subunit epsilon-1 (NR2A) and is known to be involved in a plethora of synaptic plasticity-related regulatory processes probably disturbed in MDD.
ISSN:0940-1334
1433-8491
DOI:10.1007/s00406-014-0572-y