Transcriptional response to early life stress in male and female mouse brain. Mus musculus

This study explored the interaction of early life and adult stress on transcriptional and chromosomal states in a 2x2 design. Male and female mice were subjected to early life stress (ELS) or were standard-reared (Std), were housed normally through adolescence, and were then exposed to 10 days of control (Ctl) or chronic social defeat stress (CSDS: males only) or 3 days of sub-threshold variable stress (STVS: females only) conditions in adulthood. Long-lasting transcriptional alterations were assessed in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), nucleus accumbens (NAc), medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), and ventral hippocampus (HIP, males only) in adulthood. Overall design: All male brain tissue for RNA-seq came from one cohort of adult mice. All female brain tissue for RNA-seq came from a separate cohort of adult mice. Male VTA samples for H3K4me1 ChIP-seq came from a third cohort of adult mice. Brain regions were punched from adult mouse brain and flash frozen. Punches from 3 mice were pooled per sample before RNA extraction (male VTA and male NAc) or for HeK4me1 ChIP (male VTA). Samples represent individual mice for female VTA, NAc, and PFC, and male PFC and HIP. H3K4me1 ChIP samples are matched to corresponding Input. RNA-seq was performed using Illumina TruSeq kits according to protocol and read at 100-125 bp. Library multiplexing was counterbalanced across groups. ChIP-seq and Input libraries were prepared with NEB Ultra kits with Illumina adaptors according to protocol and read at 100-bp.