The effect of Repeated Cross Fostering (RCF) on transcriptomic profiles of mouse Ventral Tegmental Areas across different sexes and strains

Early life experiences affecting the attachment bond formation can result in maladaptive behaviors acting on developmental trajectories and programming adult brain functions in a sex-dependent manner. Repeated Cross Fostering (RCF) manipulation in mice is able to interfere with attachment bond formation in mice. Using males and females from two different inbred strains of mouse, known to respond very differently to the RCF, we analyzed the effect of RCF on the ventral tegmental area (VTA)-transcriptome in a sex-specific manner. Through next-generation mRNA-Seq, we profiled VTA transcriptomes in RCF and control adult male and female mice from both backgrounds. Brain Ventral Tegmental Area mRNA profiles of adult RCF and control mice from 2 different backgrounds (C57 and DBA) and from both sexes (male and female) overall resulting in 8 experimental groups. We performed comparisons between RCF and control mice in 4 different conditions (C57 male, C57 female, DBA male and DBA female)