Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 618012, USA.
Department of Statistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 618012, USA.
Genes (Basel). 2022 May 2;13(5):814. doi: 10.3390/genes13050814.
Neurogenomic changes induced by maternal immune activation (MIA) during gestation and the social stress of weaning can alter brain plasticity in the hippocampus of offspring. The present study furthers the understanding of how these stressors impact hippocampus gene networks. The hippocampus transcriptome was profiled in pigs that were either exposed to MIA or not and were weaned or nursed. Overall, 1576 genes were differentially expressed (FDR-adjusted p-value < 0.05 and |log2 (fold change between pig groups)| > 1.2) in response to the main and interacting effects of MIA, weaning, and sex. Functional analysis identified 17 enriched immunological and neurological pathways in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database. The enrichment of the terpenoid backbone biosynthesis pathway was characterized by genes under-expressed in MIA relative to non-MIA exposed, males relative to females, and weaned relative to nursed pigs. On the other hand, the enrichment of drug addiction pathways was characterized by gene over-expression in MIA relative to non-exposed pigs. Our results indicate that weaning and sex can modify the effects of MIA on the offspring hippocampus. This knowledge can aid in precise identification of molecular targets to reduce the prolonged effects of pre- and postnatal stressors.
孕期母体免疫激活 (MIA) 和断奶期的社会压力所引起的神经基因组变化，可改变后代海马体的可塑性。本研究进一步了解这些应激源如何影响海马体基因网络。本研究对经历 MIA 或未经历 MIA、断奶或哺乳的猪的海马转录组进行了分析。总的来说，有 1576 个基因因 MIA、断奶和性别之间的主效应和交互效应而出现差异表达（FDR 调整后的 p 值 < 0.05，且 |log2（猪群间的倍数变化| > 1.2）。京都基因与基因组百科全书数据库中的功能分析确定了 17 个富集的免疫学和神经学途径。萜类生物合成途径的富集表现为 MIA 组相对于非 MIA 组、雄性相对于雌性、断奶组相对于哺乳组中下调的基因。另一方面，药物成瘾途径的富集表现为 MIA 组相对于未暴露组的基因表达上调。我们的研究结果表明，断奶和性别可以改变 MIA 对后代海马体的影响。这些知识可以帮助精确识别分子靶标，以减少产前和产后应激源的长期影响。
