N-Phthalyl-l-Tryptophan (RG108), like Clozapine (CLO), Induces Chromatin Remodeling in Brains of Prenatally Stressed Mice.

Abstract:

:Schizophrenia (SZ), schizoaffective (SZA), and bipolar (BP) disorder are neurodevelopmental psychopathological conditions related, in part, to genetic load and, in part, to environmentally induced epigenetic dysregulation of chromatin structure and function in neocortical GABAergic, glutamatergic, and monoaminergic neurons. To test the above hypothesis, we targeted our scientific efforts on identifying whether the molecular epigenetic signature of postmortem brains of patients with SZ, SZA, and BP disorder are also present in the brains of adult mice born from dams prenatally restraint stressed (PRS) during gestation. The brains of PRS mice, which are similar to the brains of patients with SZ and BP disorder, show an ∼2-fold increased binding of DNMT1 to psychiatric candidate promoters (glutamic acid decarboxylase 67, Reelin, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor), leading to their hypermethylation, reduced expression, as well as the behavioral endophenotypes reminiscent of those observed in the above psychiatric disorders. To establish whether clozapine (CLO) produces its behavioral and molecular action through a causal involvement of DNA methylation/demethylation processes, we compared the epigenetic action of CLO with that of the DNMT1 competitive inhibitor N-phthalyl-l-tryptophan (RG108). The intracerebroventricular injection of RG108 (20 nmol/day per 5 days), similar to the systemic administration of CLO, corrects the altered behavioral and molecular endophenotypes that are typical of PRS mice. These results are consistent with an epigenetic etiology underlying the behavioral endophenotypic profile in PRS mice. Further, it suggests that PRS mice may be useful in the preclinical screening of antipsychotic drugs acting to correct altered epigenetic mechanisms.

journal_name

Mol Pharmacol

journal_title

Molecular pharmacology

authors

Dong E,Locci V,Gatta E,Grayson DR,Guidotti A

doi

10.1124/mol.118.113415

subject

Has Abstract

pub_date

2019-01-01 00:00:00

pages

62-69

issue

1

eissn

0026-895X

issn

1521-0111

pii

mol.118.113415

journal_volume

95

pub_type

杂志文章