TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gutknecht, Lise
A1  - Popp, Sandy
A1  - Waider, Jonas
A1  - Sommerlandt, Frank M. J.
A1  - Göppner, Corinna
A1  - Post, Antonia
A1  - Reif, Andreas
A1  - van den Hove, Daniel
A1  - Strekalova, Tatyana
A1  - Schmitt, Angelika
A1  - Colaςo, Maria B. N.
A1  - Sommer, Claudia
A1  - Palme, Rupert
A1  - Lesch, Klaus-Peter
T1  - Interaction of brain 5-HT synthesis deficiency, chronic stress and sex differentially impact emotional behavior in Tph2 knockout mice
JF  - Psychopharmacology
N2  - Rationale
While brain serotonin (5-HT) function is implicated in gene-by-environment interaction (GxE) impacting the vulnerability-resilience continuum in neuropsychiatric disorders, it remains elusive how the interplay of altered 5-HT synthesis and environmental stressors is linked to failure in emotion regulation.

Objective
Here, we investigated the effect of constitutively impaired 5-HT synthesis on behavioral and neuroendocrine responses to unpredictable chronic mild stress (CMS) using a mouse model of brain 5-HT deficiency resulting from targeted inactivation of the tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (Tph2) gene.

Results
Locomotor activity and anxiety- and depression-like behavior as well as conditioned fear responses were differentially affected by Tph2 genotype, sex, and CMS. Tph2 null mutants (Tph2\(^{−/−}\)) displayed increased general metabolism, marginally reduced anxiety- and depression-like behavior but strikingly increased conditioned fear responses. Behavioral modifications were associated with sex-specific hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system alterations as indicated by plasma corticosterone and fecal corticosterone metabolite concentrations. Tph2\(^{−/−}\) males displayed increased impulsivity and high aggressiveness. Tph2\(^{−/−}\) females displayed greater emotional reactivity to aversive conditions as reflected by changes in behaviors at baseline including increased freezing and decreased locomotion in novel environments. However, both Tph2\(^{−/−}\) male and female mice were resilient to CMS-induced hyperlocomotion, while CMS intensified conditioned fear responses in a GxE-dependent manner.

Conclusions
Our results indicate that 5-HT mediates behavioral responses to environmental adversity by facilitating the encoding of stress effects leading to increased vulnerability for negative emotionality.
KW  - Serotonin
KW  - Tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (Tph2)
KW  - chronic stress
KW  - gene-by-environment interaction
KW  - anxiety
KW  - fear
KW  - depression
KW  - aggression
Y1  - 2015
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-154586
VL  - 232
SP  - 2429
EP  - 2441
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Grünewald, Benedikt
A1  - Lange, Maren D
A1  - Werner, Christian
A1  - O'Leary, Aet
A1  - Weishaupt, Andreas
A1  - Popp, Sandy
A1  - Pearce, David A
A1  - Wiendl, Heinz
A1  - Reif, Andreas
A1  - Pape, Hans C
A1  - Toyka, Klaus V
A1  - Sommer, Claudia
A1  - Geis, Christian
T1  - Defective synaptic transmission causes disease signs in a mouse model of juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis
JF  - eLife
N2  - Juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (JNCL or Batten disease) caused by mutations in the CLN3 gene is the most prevalent inherited neurodegenerative disease in childhood resulting in widespread central nervous system dysfunction and premature death. The consequences of CLN3 mutation on the progression of the disease, on neuronal transmission, and on central nervous network dysfunction are poorly understood. We used Cln3 knockout (Cln3\(^{Δex1-6}\)) mice and found increased anxiety-related behavior and impaired aversive learning as well as markedly affected motor function including disordered coordination. Patch-clamp and loose-patch recordings revealed severely affected inhibitory and excitatory synaptic transmission in the amygdala, hippocampus, and cerebellar networks. Changes in presynaptic release properties may result from dysfunction of CLN3 protein. Furthermore, loss of calbindin, neuropeptide Y, parvalbumin, and GAD65-positive interneurons in central networks collectively support the hypothesis that degeneration of GABAergic interneurons may be the cause of supraspinal GABAergic disinhibition.
KW  - CLN3
KW  - mutation
KW  - mouse model
KW  - synaptic transmission
KW  - amygdala
KW  - hippocampus
Y1  - 2017
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170004
VL  - 6
IS  - e28685
ER  -