EPIGENETIC REGULATION INDUCED BY PRENATAL STRESS IN RAT HIPPOCAMPUS

MONTELEONE, MELISA C; ADROVER, EZEQUIELA; ANTONELLI, MARTA C; ALBERTO C. FRASCH; BROCCO MARCELA ADRIANA

Huerta Grande, Córdoba

Congreso; Reunión Anual SAN; 2011

Sociedada Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias

Experiences during earlydevelopment like prenatal stress alter gene transcription throughout the lifespan. These experience-inducedchanges could occur through epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation, histone modificationsand microRNAs-regulation. Epigenetic mechanisms regulate synaptic plasticity and its deregulation hasbeen related to mood disorders. Our aim is to study prenatal stress-induced epigenetic changes in geneexpression in the model gene gpm6a that encodes the neuronal glycoprotein M6a. Real Time-PCR measuresof gpm6a mRNA levels in 60-days-offspring hippocampus from stressed and control rats showed an increasein prenatally stressed animals compared with control ones. Preliminary results from direct sequencing ofbisulphite-converted genomic DNA of the same samples showed a differential gpm6a methylation statusbetween prenatal stressed and control animals. We also evaluated the microRNA 133a as a regulatorfor gpm6a mRNA expression in microRNA-treated primary culture of hippocampal neurons. Real Time-PCR showed a 40% decrease in the mRNA levels in treated cells, indicating that mir133 might regulategpm6a expression. Altogether these results suggest that diverse epigenetic mechanisms may control gpm6aexpression.