Perinatal protein malnutrition results in genome-wide disruptions of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine at regions that can be restored to control levels by an enriched environment

Maternal malnutrition remains one of the major adversities affecting brain development and long-term mental health outcomes, increasing the risk to develop anxiety and depressive disorders. We have previously shown that malnutrition-induced anxiety-like behaviours can be rescued by a social and sensory stimulation (enriched environment) in male mice. Here, we expand these findings to adult female mice and profiled genome-wide ventral hippocampal 5hmC levels related to malnutrition-induced anxiety-like behaviours and their rescue by an enriched environment. This approach revealed 508 differentially hydroxymethylated genes associated with protein malnutrition and that several genes (<i>N</i> = 34) exhibited a restored 5hmC abundance to control levels following exposure to an enriched environment, including genes involved in neuronal functions like dendrite outgrowth, axon guidance, and maintenance of neuronal circuits (<i>e.g. Fltr3, Itsn1, Lman1, Lsamp, Nav</i>, and <i>Ror1</i>) and epigenetic mechanisms (<i>e.g. Hdac9</i> and <i>Dicer1</i>). Sequence motif predictions indicated that 5hmC may be modulating the binding of transcription factors for several of these transcripts, suggesting a regulatory role for 5hmC in response to perinatal malnutrition and exposure to an enriched environment. Together, these findings establish a role for 5hmC in early-life malnutrition and reveal genes linked to malnutrition-induced anxious behaviours that are mitigated by an enriched environment.