29
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Increased expression of schizophrenia-associated gene C4 leads to hypoconnectivity of prefrontal cortex and reduced social interaction

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder with an unclear pathophysiology. Increased expression of the immune gene C4 has been linked to a greater risk of developing schizophrenia; however, it is not known whether C4 plays a causative role in this brain disorder. Using confocal imaging and whole-cell electrophysiology, we demonstrate that overexpression of C4 in mouse prefrontal cortex neurons leads to perturbations in dendritic spine development and hypoconnectivity, which mirror neuropathologies found in schizophrenia patients. We find evidence that microglia-mediated synaptic engulfment is enhanced with increased expression of C4. We also show that C4-dependent circuit dysfunction in the frontal cortex leads to decreased social interactions in juvenile and adult mice. These results demonstrate that increased expression of the schizophrenia-associated gene C4 causes aberrant circuit wiring in the developing prefrontal cortex and leads to deficits in juvenile and adult social behavior, suggesting that altered C4 expression contributes directly to schizophrenia pathogenesis.

          Abstract

          Elevated expression of the gene encoding complement C4 is associated with an enhanced risk of schizophrenia, but the mechanism underlying this link is unclear. This study shows that overexpression of the C4 gene in mice leads to mis-wiring of the prefrontal cortex and deficits in social interactions.

          Related collections

          Most cited references42

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          DeepLabCut: markerless pose estimation of user-defined body parts with deep learning

          Quantifying behavior is crucial for many applications in neuroscience. Videography provides easy methods for the observation and recording of animal behavior in diverse settings, yet extracting particular aspects of a behavior for further analysis can be highly time consuming. In motor control studies, humans or other animals are often marked with reflective markers to assist with computer-based tracking, but markers are intrusive, and the number and location of the markers must be determined a priori. Here we present an efficient method for markerless pose estimation based on transfer learning with deep neural networks that achieves excellent results with minimal training data. We demonstrate the versatility of this framework by tracking various body parts in multiple species across a broad collection of behaviors. Remarkably, even when only a small number of frames are labeled (~200), the algorithm achieves excellent tracking performance on test frames that is comparable to human accuracy.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Electroporation and RNA interference in the rodent retina in vivo and in vitro.

            The large number of candidate genes made available by comprehensive genome analysis requires that relatively rapid techniques for the study of function be developed. Here, we report a rapid and convenient electroporation method for both gain- and loss-of-function studies in vivo and in vitro in the rodent retina. Plasmid DNA directly injected into the subretinal space of neonatal rodent pups was taken up by a significant fraction of exposed cells after several pulses of high voltage. With this technique, GFP expression vectors were efficiently transfected into retinal cells with little damage to the operated pups. Transfected GFP allowed clear visualization of cell morphologies, and the expression persisted for at least 50 days. DNA-based RNA interference vectors directed against two transcription factors important in photoreceptor development led to photoreceptor phenotypes similar to those of the corresponding knockout mice. Reporter constructs carrying retinal cell type-specific promoters were readily introduced into the retina in vivo, where they exhibited the appropriate expression patterns. Plasmid DNA was also efficiently transfected into retinal explants in vitro by high-voltage pulses.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Transient and persistent dendritic spines in the neocortex in vivo.

              Dendritic spines were imaged over days to months in the apical tufts of neocortical pyramidal neurons (layers 5 and 2/3) in vivo. A fraction of thin spines appeared and disappeared over a few days, while most thick spines persisted for months. In the somatosensory cortex, from postnatal day (PND) 16 to PND 25 spine retractions exceeded additions, resulting in a net loss of spines. The fraction of persistent spines (lifetime > or = 8 days) grew gradually during development and into adulthood (PND 16-25, 35%; PND 35-80, 54%; PND 80-120, 66%; PND 175-225, 73%), providing evidence that synaptic circuits continue to stabilize even in the adult brain, long after the closure of known critical periods. In 6-month-old mice, spines turn over more slowly in visual compared to somatosensory cortex, possibly reflecting differences in the capacity for experience-dependent plasticity in these brain regions.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – original draftRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Formal analysisRole: Methodology
                Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: Methodology
                Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: Methodology
                Role: Resources
                Role: Resources
                Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: Methodology
                Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: Methodology
                Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: Methodology
                Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: Methodology
                Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: Methodology
                Role: Formal analysisRole: Methodology
                Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administration
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: Funding acquisitionRole: InvestigationRole: MethodologyRole: Project administrationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: ValidationRole: Writing – original draftRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Academic Editor
                Journal
                PLoS Biol
                PLoS Biol
                plos
                plosbiol
                PLoS Biology
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, CA USA )
                1544-9173
                1545-7885
                14 January 2020
                January 2020
                14 January 2020
                : 18
                : 1
                : e3000604
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
                [2 ] The Graduate Program for Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
                [3 ] Neurophotonics Center, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
                [4 ] Research and Early Development, Biogen, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
                [5 ] Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry Program, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
                [6 ] Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
                [7 ] Biologics Drug Discovery, Biogen, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
                [8 ] External Innovations and New Indications, Biogen, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
                [9 ] Department of Biology, Connecticut College, New London, Connecticut, United States of America
                [10 ] Biochemistry and Molecular Biology/Biotechnology Program, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
                [11 ] Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
                [12 ] Department Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
                [13 ] Center for Systems Neuroscience, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
                Mount Sinai School of Medicine, UNITED STATES
                Author notes

                The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7073-892X
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2693-9951
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9550-3190
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6177-5323
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0947-4654
                http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3250-4126
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5867-6642
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8019-4911
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3536-3122
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3271-7220
                Article
                PBIOLOGY-D-19-01099
                10.1371/journal.pbio.3000604
                6959572
                31935214
                179aafb9-0ac1-4ca8-b9dd-792fbb2d1d89
                © 2020 Comer et al

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                : 18 April 2019
                : 19 December 2019
                Page count
                Figures: 8, Tables: 1, Pages: 36
                Funding
                Funded by: Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
                Award ID: 27202
                Award Recipient :
                Funded by: NSF
                Award ID: DGE-1633516
                Award Recipient :
                Funded by: NSF
                Award ID: DGE-1633516
                Award Recipient :
                Funded by: Boston University Brenton R. Lutz Award
                Award Recipient :
                Funded by: funder-id http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100005614, Biogen;
                Award ID: 973630
                Award Recipient :
                This work was supported by Biogen (AC-M, #973630), a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant (AC-M, #27202), the Brenton R. Lutz Award (ALC), the NSF NRT UtB: Neurophotonics National Research Fellowship (ALC and LNK, #DGE-1633516), and the Boston University Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (JL, FSH, TPHN, KLK, ERN, WWY) ( https://www.biogen.com/en_us/home.html; https://www.bbrfoundation.org/grants-prizes/grants, https://www.nsf.gov/; http://www.bu.edu/urop/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
                Categories
                Research Article
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Cell Biology
                Cellular Types
                Animal Cells
                Glial Cells
                Microglial Cells
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Cell Biology
                Cellular Types
                Animal Cells
                Neurons
                Neuronal Dendrites
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Neuroscience
                Cellular Neuroscience
                Neurons
                Neuronal Dendrites
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Cell Biology
                Cellular Types
                Animal Cells
                Neurons
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Neuroscience
                Cellular Neuroscience
                Neurons
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Organisms
                Eukaryota
                Animals
                Vertebrates
                Amniotes
                Mammals
                Rodents
                Mice
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Cell Biology
                Cellular Structures and Organelles
                Lysosomes
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Anatomy
                Brain
                Prefrontal Cortex
                Medicine and Health Sciences
                Anatomy
                Brain
                Prefrontal Cortex
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Molecular Biology
                Molecular Biology Techniques
                Molecular Biology Assays and Analysis Techniques
                Gene Expression and Vector Techniques
                Hyperexpression Techniques
                Research and Analysis Methods
                Molecular Biology Techniques
                Molecular Biology Assays and Analysis Techniques
                Gene Expression and Vector Techniques
                Hyperexpression Techniques
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Biochemistry
                Proteins
                Luminescent Proteins
                Green Fluorescent Protein
                Custom metadata
                All relevant data are within the paper, and underlying data are available at https://osf.io/7em3s/?view_only=0e7ffde4ebd344dc83af83b5a605c451. Custom-written routines for behavioral tracking are available at https://osf.io/7em3s/?view_only=0e7ffde4ebd344dc83af83b5a605c451 (for juvenile behavior) and https://github.com/balajisriram/dlc_utils (for adult behavior). For further information, please contact the corresponding author.

                Life sciences
                Life sciences

                Comments

                Comment on this article