Alternative splicing in mouse brains affected by psychological stress is enriched in the signaling, neural transmission and blood-brain barrier pathways.

Feiran Wang, Xiuju Yang, Zongyao Ren, Chao Chen & Chunyu Liu studied differential gene expression (DEG) and splicing in mice brain regions after . This study investigated changes in gene expression under psychological stress - the stressors included chronic social defeat stress (CSDS), early life stress (ELS), and two-hit stress of combined CSDS and ELS. Pathway analyses produced robust findings: stress-induced differentially spliced genes (DSGs) were reproducibly enriched in neural transmission and blood-brain barrier systems, and DEGs were reproducibly enriched in stress response-related functions. The hub genes of DSG-related protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks were enriched in synaptic functions. The corresponding human homologs of stress-induced DSGs were robustly enriched in Alzheimer’s disease-related DSGs as well as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in GWAS. These results suggested that stress-induced DSGs from different datasets belong to the same biological systems throughout the stress response process, resulting in consistent stress response effects.

 

Source: Wang F, Yang X, Ren Z, Chen C, Liu C. Alternative splicing in mouse brains affected by psychological stress is enriched in the signaling, neural transmission and blood-brain barrier pathways. Mol Psychiatry. 2023 May 23. doi: 10.1038/s41380-023-02103-1. Online ahead of print. PMID: 37217679.