Computational Modeling Differentiates Learning Rate From Reward Sensitivity Deficits Produced by Early-Life Adversity in a Rodent Touchscreen Probabilistic Reward Task.

Background: Exposure to adversity, including unpredictable environments, during early life is associated with neuropsychiatric illness in adulthood. One common factor in this sequela is anhedonia, the loss of responsivity to previously reinforcing stimuli. To accelerate the development of new treatment strategies for anhedonic disorders induced by early-life adversity, animal models have been developed to capture critical features of early-life stress and the behavioral deficits that such stressors induce. We have previously shown that rats exposed to the limited bedding and nesting protocol exhibited blunted reward responsivity in the probabilistic reward task, a touchscreen-based task reverse translated from human studies. Methods: To test the quantitative limits of this translational platform, we examined the ability of Bayesian computational modeling and probability analyses identical to those optimized in previous human studies to quantify the putative mechanisms that underlie these deficits with precision. Specifically, 2 parameters that have been shown to independently contribute to probabilistic reward task outcomes in patient populations, reward sensitivity and learning rate, were extracted, as were trial-by-trial probability analyses of choices as a function of the preceding trial. Results: Significant deficits in reward sensitivity, but not learning rate, contributed to the anhedonic phenotypes in rats exposed to early-life adversity. Conclusions: The current findings confirm and extend the translational value of these rodent models by verifying the effectiveness of computational modeling in distinguishing independent features of reward sensitivity and learning rate that complement the probabilistic reward task's signal detection end points. Together, these metrics serve to objectively quantify reinforcement learning deficits associated with anhedonic phenotypes.

Exposure to early-life adversity can lead to psychiatric illness, including anhedonia, the loss of pleasure from previously rewarding activities. This article describes findings from rats exposed to a model of simulated poverty on a touchscreen-based assay reverse translated from a task used to characterize anhedonia in humans. We documented the ability of Bayesian computational modeling and probability analyses, identical to those used with humans, to objectively quantify reinforcement learning deficits associated with anhedonia in rats.

Enduring memory consequences of early-life stress / adversity: Structural, synaptic, molecular and epigenetic mechanisms.

Adverse early life experiences are strongly associated with reduced cognitive function throughout life. The link is strong in many human studies, but these do not enable assigning causality, and the limited access to the live human brain can impede establishing the mechanisms by which early-life adversity (ELA) may induce cognitive problems. In experimental models, artificially imposed chronic ELA/stress results in deficits in hippocampus dependent memory as well as increased vulnerability to the deleterious effects of adult stress on memory. This causal relation of ELA and life-long memory impairments provides a framework to probe the mechanisms by which ELA may lead to human cognitive problems. Here we focus on the consequences of a one-week exposure to adversity during early postnatal life in the rodent, the spectrum of the ensuing memory deficits, and the mechanisms responsible. We highlight molecular, cellular and circuit mechanisms using convergent trans-disciplinary approaches aiming to enable translation of the discoveries in experimental models to the clinic.

Sex-Specific Effects of Early Life Unpredictability on Hippocampal and Amygdala Responses to Novelty in Adolescents.

Background: Unpredictable childhood experiences are an understudied form of early life adversity that impacts neurodevelopment in a sex-specific manner. The neurobiological processes by which exposure to early-life unpredictability impacts development and vulnerability to psychopathology remain poorly understood. The present study investigates the sex-specific consequences of early-life unpredictability on the limbic network, focusing on the hippocampus and the amygdala. Methods: Participants included 150 youth (54% female). Early life unpredictability was assessed using the Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood (QUIC). Participants engaged in a task-fMRI scan between the ages of 8 and 17 (223 total observations) measuring BOLD responses to novel and familiar scenes. Results: Exposure to early-life unpredictability associated with BOLD contrast (novel vs. familiar) in a sex-specific manner. For males, but not females, higher QUIC scores were associated with lower BOLD activation in response to novel vs. familiar stimuli in the hippocampal head and amygdala. Secondary psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses revealed complementary sex-specific associations between QUIC and condition-specific functional connectivity between the right and left amygdala, as well as between the right amygdala and hippocampus bilaterally. Conclusion: Exposure to unpredictability in early life has persistent implications for the functional operations of limbic circuits. Importantly, consistent with emerging experimental animal and human studies, the consequences of early life unpredictability differ for males and females. Further, impacts of early-life unpredictability were independent of other risk factors including lower household income and negative life events, indicating distinct consequences of early-life unpredictability over and above more commonly studied types of early life adversity.

PTEN DELETION IN THE ADULT DENTATE GYRUS INDUCES EPILEPSY.

Embryonic and early postnatal promotor-driven deletion of the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) gene results in neuronal hypertrophy, hyperexcitable circuitry and development of spontaneous seizures in adulthood. We previously documented that focal, vector-mediated PTEN deletion in mature granule cells of adult dentate gyrus triggers dramatic growth of cell bodies, dendrites, and axons, similar to that seen with early postnatal PTEN deletion. Here, we assess the functional consequences of focal, adult PTEN deletion, focusing on its pro-epileptogenic potential. PTEN deletion was accomplished by injecting AAV-Cre either bilaterally or unilaterally into the dentate gyrus of double transgenic PTEN-floxed, ROSA-reporter mice. Hippocampal recording electrodes were implanted for continuous digital EEG with concurrent video recordings in the home cage. Electrographic seizures and epileptiform spikes were assessed manually by two investigators, and corelated with concurrent videos. Spontaneous electrographic and behavioral seizures appeared after focal PTEN deletion in adult dentate granule cells, commencing around 2 months post-AAV-Cre injection. Seizures occurred in the majority of mice with unilateral or bilateral PTEN deletion and led to death in several cases. PTEN-deletion provoked epilepsy was not associated with apparent hippocampal neuron death; supra-granular mossy fiber sprouting was observed in a few mice. In summary, focal, unilateral deletion of PTEN in the adult dentate gyrus suffices to provoke time-dependent emergence of a hyperexcitable circuit generating hippocampus-origin, generalizing spontaneous seizures, providing a novel model for studies of adult-onset epileptogenesis.

Individual longitudinal changes in DNA-methylome identify signatures of early-life adversity and correlate with later outcome.

Adverse early-life experiences (ELA) affect a majority of the world's children. Whereas the enduring impact of ELA on cognitive and emotional health is established, there are no tools to predict vulnerability to ELA consequences in an individual child. Epigenetic markers including peripheral-cell DNA-methylation profiles may encode ELA and provide predictive outcome markers, yet the interindividual variance of the human genome and rapid changes in DNA methylation in childhood pose significant challenges. Hoping to mitigate these challenges we examined the relation of several ELA dimensions to DNA methylation changes and outcome using a within-subject longitudinal design and a high methylation-change threshold. DNA methylation was analyzed in buccal swab/saliva samples collected twice (neonatally and at 12 months) in 110 infants. We identified CpGs differentially methylated across time for each child and determined whether they associated with ELA indicators and executive function at age 5. We assessed sex differences and derived a sex-dependent 'impact score' based on sites that most contributed to methylation changes. Changes in methylation between two samples of an individual child reflected age-related trends and correlated with executive function years later. Among tested ELA dimensions and life factors including income to needs ratios, maternal sensitivity, body mass index and infant sex, unpredictability of parental and household signals was the strongest predictor of executive function. In girls, high early-life unpredictability interacted with methylation changes to presage executive function. Thus, longitudinal, within-subject changes in methylation profiles may provide a signature of ELA and a potential predictive marker of individual outcome.

Childhood unpredictability is associated with increased risk for long- and short-term depression and anhedonia symptoms following combat deployment.

High unpredictability has emerged as a dimension of early-life adversity that may contribute to a host of deleterious consequences later in life. Early-life unpredictability affects development of limbic and reward circuits in both rodents and humans, with a potential to increase sensitivity to stressors and mood symptoms later in life. Here, we examined the extent to which unpredictability during childhood was associated with changes in mood symptoms (anhedonia and general depression) after two adult life stressors, combat deployment and civilian reintegration, which were assessed ten years apart. We also examined how perceived stress and social support mediated and /or moderated links between childhood unpredictability and mood symptoms. To test these hypotheses, we leveraged the Marine Resiliency Study, a prospective longitudinal study of the effects of combat deployment on mental health in Active-Duty Marines and Navy Corpsman. Participants (N = 273) were assessed for depression and anhedonia before (pre-deployment) and 3-6 months after (acute post-deployment) a combat deployment. Additional assessment of depression and childhood unpredictability were collected 10 years post-deployment (chronic post-deployment). Higher childhood unpredictability was associated with higher anhedonia and general depression at both acute and chronic post-deployment timepoints (ßs ≥ 0.16, ps ≤.007). The relationship between childhood unpredictability and subsequent depression at acute post-deployment was partially mediated by lower social support (b = 0.07, 95% CI [0.03, 0.15]) while depression at chronic post-deployment was fully mediated by a combination of lower social support (b = 0.14, 95% CI [0.07, 0.23]) and higher perceived stress (b = 0.09, 95% CI [0.05, 0.15]). These findings implicate childhood unpredictability as a potential risk factor for depression in adulthood and suggest that increasing the structure and predictability of childhood routines and developing social support interventions after life stressors could be helpful for preventing adult depression.

Paraventricular Thalamus Neuronal Ensembles Encode Early-life Adversity and Mediate the Consequent Sex-dependent Disruptions of Adult Reward Behaviors.

Early-life adversity increases risk for mental illnesses including depression and substance use disorders, disorders characterized by dysregulated reward behaviors. However, the mechanisms by which transient ELA enduringly impacts reward circuitries are not well understood. In mice, ELA leads to anhedonia-like behaviors in males and augmented motivation for palatable food and sex-reward cues in females. Here, the use of genetic tagging demonstrated robust, preferential, and sex-specific activation of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) during ELA and a potentiated reactivation of these PVT neurons during a reward task in adult ELA mice. Chemogenetic manipulation of specific ensembles of PVT neurons engaged during ELA identified a role for the posterior PVT in ELA-induced aberrantly augmented reward behaviors in females. In contrast, anterior PVT neurons activated during ELA were required for the anhedonia-like behaviors in males. Thus, the PVT encodes adverse experiences early-in life, prior to the emergence of the hippocampal memory system, and contributes critically to the lasting, sex-modulated impacts of ELA on reward behaviors.

Inhibition of Neuron-Restrictive Silencing Factor (REST/NRSF) Chromatin Binding Attenuates Epileptogenesis.

The mechanisms by which brain insults lead to subsequent epilepsy remain unclear. Insults including trauma, stroke, infections, and long seizures (status epilepticus, SE) increase the nuclear expression and chromatin binding of the neuron-restrictive silencing factor/RE-1 silencing transcription factor (NRSF/REST). REST/NRSF orchestrates major disruption of the expression of key neuronal genes, including ion channels and neurotransmitter receptors, potentially contributing to epileptogenesis. Accordingly, transient interference with REST/NRSF chromatin binding after an epilepsy-provoking SE suppressed spontaneous seizures for the 12 d duration of a prior study. However, whether the onset of epileptogenesis was suppressed or only delayed has remained unresolved. The current experiments determined if transient interference with REST/NRSF chromatin binding prevented epileptogenesis enduringly or, alternatively, slowed epilepsy onset. Epileptogenesis was elicited in adult male rats via systemic kainic acid-induced SE (KA-SE). We then determined if decoy, NRSF-binding-motif oligodeoxynucleotides (NRSE-ODNs), given twice following KA-SE (1) prevented REST/NRSF binding to chromatin, using chromatin immunoprecipitation, or (2) prevented the onset of spontaneous seizures, measured with chronic digital video-electroencephalogram. Blocking NRSF function transiently after KA-SE significantly lengthened the latent period to a first spontaneous seizure. Whereas this intervention did not influence the duration and severity of spontaneous seizures, total seizure number and seizure burden were lower in the NRSE-ODN compared with scrambled-ODN cohorts. Transient interference with REST/NRSF function after KA-SE delays and moderately attenuates insult-related hippocampal epilepsy, but does not abolish it. Thus, the anticonvulsant and antiepileptogenic actions of NRSF are but one of the multifactorial mechanisms generating epilepsy in the adult brain.

Infant hedonic/anhedonic processing index (HAPI-Infant): Assessing infant anhedonia and its prospective association with adolescent depressive symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Anhedonia, an impairment in the motivation for or experience of pleasure, is a well-established transdiagnostic harbinger and core symptom of mental illness. Given increasing recognition of early life origins of mental illness, we posit that anhedonia should, and could, be recognized earlier if appropriate tools were available. However, reliable diagnostic instruments prior to childhood do not currently exist. METHODS: We developed an assessment instrument for anhedonia/reward processing in infancy, the Infant Hedonic/Anhedonic Processing Index (HAPI-Infant). Exploratory factor and psychometric analyses were conducted using data from 6- and 12-month-old infants from two cohorts (N = 188, N = 212). Then, associations were assessed between infant anhedonia and adolescent self-report of depressive symptoms. RESULTS: The HAPI-Infant (47-items), exhibited excellent psychometric properties. Higher anhedonia scores at 6 (r = 0.23, p < .01) and 12 months (r = 0.19, p < .05) predicted elevated adolescent depressive symptoms, and these associations were stronger than for established infant risk indicators such as negative affectivity. Subsequent analyses supported the validity of short (27-item) and very short (12-item) versions of this measure. LIMITATIONS: The primary limitations of this study are that the HAPI-Infant awaits additional tests of generalizability and of its ability to predict clinical diagnosis of depression. CONCLUSIONS: The HAPI-Infant is a novel, psychometrically strong diagnostic tool suitable for recognizing anhedonia during the first year of life with strong predictive value for later depressive symptoms. In view of the emerging recognition of increasing prevalence of affective disorders in children and adolescents, the importance of the HAPI-Infant in diagnosing anhedonia is encouraging. Early recognition of anhedonia could target high-risk individuals for intervention and perhaps prevention of mental health disorders.

Across ages and places: Unpredictability of maternal sensory signals and child internalizing behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Patterns of sensory inputs early in life play an integral role in shaping the maturation of neural circuits, including those implicated in emotion and cognition. In both experimental animal models and observational human research, unpredictable sensory signals have been linked to aberrant developmental outcomes, including poor memory and effortful control. These findings suggest that sensitivity to unpredictable sensory signals is conserved across species and sculpts the developing brain. The current study provides a novel investigation of unpredictable maternal sensory signals in early life and child internalizing behaviors. We tested these associations in three independent cohorts to probe the generalizability of associations across continents and cultures. METHOD: The three prospective longitudinal cohorts were based in Orange, USA (n = 163, 47.2 % female, Mage = 1 year); Turku, Finland (n = 239, 44.8 % female, Mage = 5 years); and Irvine, USA (n = 129, 43.4 % female, Mage = 9.6 years). Unpredictability of maternal sensory signals was quantified during free-play interactions. Child internalizing behaviors were measured via parent report (Orange & Turku) and child self-report (Irvine). RESULTS: Early life exposure to unpredictable maternal sensory signals was associated with greater child fearfulness/anxiety in all three cohorts, above and beyond maternal sensitivity and sociodemographic factors. The association between unpredictable maternal sensory signals and child sadness/depression was relatively weaker and did not reach traditional thresholds for statistical significance. LIMITATIONS: The correlational design limits our ability to make causal inferences. CONCLUSIONS: Findings across the three diverse cohorts suggest that unpredictable maternal signals early in life shape the development of internalizing behaviors, particularly fearfulness and anxiety.

Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Mood Entropy Is Associated With a Weakened and Inflexible Salience Network in Adolescence.

BACKGROUND: Fetal exposure to maternal mood dysregulation influences child cognitive and emotional development, which may have long-lasting implications for mental health. However, the neurobiological alterations associated with this dimension of adversity have yet to be explored. Here, we tested the hypothesis that fetal exposure to entropy, a novel index of dysregulated maternal mood, would predict the integrity of the salience network, which is involved in emotional processing. METHODS: A sample of 138 child-mother pairs (70 females) participated in this prospective longitudinal study. Maternal negative mood level and entropy (an index of variable and unpredictable mood) were assessed 5 times during pregnancy. Adolescents engaged in a functional magnetic resonance imaging task that was acquired between 2 resting-state scans. Changes in network integrity were analyzed using mixed-effect and latent growth curve models. The amplitude of low frequency fluctuations was analyzed to corroborate findings. RESULTS: Prenatal maternal mood entropy, but not mood level, was associated with salience network integrity. Both prenatal negative mood level and entropy were associated with the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations of the salience network. Latent class analysis yielded 2 profiles based on changes in network integrity across all functional magnetic resonance imaging sequences. The profile that exhibited little variation in network connectivity (i.e., inflexibility) consisted of adolescents who were exposed to higher negative maternal mood levels and more entropy. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that fetal exposure to maternal mood dysregulation is associated with a weakened and inflexible salience network. More broadly, they identify maternal mood entropy as a novel marker of early adversity that exhibits long-lasting associations with offspring brain development.

Genetic Tagging Uncovers a Robust, Selective Activation of the Thalamic Paraventricular Nucleus by Adverse Experiences Early in Life.

Background: Early-life adversity (ELA) is associated with increased risk for mood disorders, including depression and substance use disorders. These disorders are characterized by impaired reward-related behaviors, suggesting compromised operations of reward-related brain circuits. However, the brain regions engaged by ELA that mediate these enduring consequences of ELA remain largely unknown. In an animal model of ELA, we identified aberrant reward-seeking behaviors, a discovery that provides a framework for assessing the underlying circuits. Methods: Employing TRAP2 (targeted recombination in active populations) male and female mice, in which neurons activated within a defined time frame are permanently tagged, we compared ELA- and control-reared mice, assessing the quantity and distribution of ELA-related neuronal activation. After validating the TRAP2 results using native c-Fos labeling, we defined the molecular identity of this population of activated neurons. Results: We uniquely demonstrated that the TRAP2 system is feasible and efficacious in neonatal mice. Surprisingly, the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus was robustly and almost exclusively activated by ELA and was the only region distinguishing ELA from typical rearing. Remarkably, a large proportion of ELA-activated paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus neurons expressed CRF1, the receptor for the stress-related peptide, corticotropin-releasing hormone, but these neurons did not express corticotropin-releasing hormone itself. Conclusions: The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus, an important component of reward circuits that is known to encode remote, emotionally salient experiences to influence future motivated behaviors, encodes adverse experiences as remote as those occurring during the early postnatal period and is thus poised to contribute to the enduring deficits in reward-related behaviors consequent to ELA.

Spatial learning impairments and discoordination of entorhinal-hippocampal circuit coding following prolonged febrile seizures.

How the development and function of neural circuits governing learning and memory are affected by insults in early life remains poorly understood. The goal of this study was to identify putative changes in cortico-hippocampal signaling mechanisms that could lead to learning and memory deficits in a clinically relevant developmental pathophysiological rodent model, Febrile status epilepticus (FSE). FSE in both pediatric cases and the experimental animal model, is associated with enduring physiological alterations of the hippocampal circuit and cognitive impairment. Here, we deconstruct hippocampal circuit throughput by inducing slow theta oscillations in rats under urethane anesthesia and isolating the dendritic compartments of CA1 and dentate gyrus subfields, their reception of medial and lateral entorhinal cortex inputs, and the efficacy of signal propagation to each somatic cell layer. We identify FSE-induced theta-gamma decoupling at cortical synaptic input pathways and altered signal phase coherence along the CA1 and dentate gyrus somatodendritic axes. Moreover, increased DG synaptic activity levels are predictive of poor cognitive outcomes. We propose that these alterations in cortico-hippocampal coordination interfere with the ability of hippocampal dendrites to receive, decode and propagate neocortical inputs. If this frequency-specific syntax is necessary for cortico-hippocampal coordination and spatial learning and memory, its loss could be a mechanism for FSE cognitive comorbidities.

Stress-induced plasticity of a CRH/GABA projection disrupts reward behaviors in mice.

Disrupted operations of the reward circuit underlie major emotional disorders, including depression, which commonly arise following early life stress / adversity (ELA). However, how ELA enduringly impacts reward circuit functions remains unclear. We characterize a stress-sensitive projection connecting basolateral amygdala (BLA) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) that co-expresses GABA and the stress-reactive neuropeptide corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). We identify a crucial role for this projection in executing disrupted reward behaviors provoked by ELA: chemogenetic and optogenetic stimulation of the projection in control male mice suppresses several reward behaviors, recapitulating deficits resulting from ELA and demonstrating the pathway's contributions to normal reward behaviors. In adult ELA mice, inhibiting-but not stimulating-the projection, restores typical reward behaviors yet has little effect in controls, indicating ELA-induced maladaptive plasticity of this reward-circuit component. Thus, we discover a stress-sensitive, reward inhibiting BLA → NAc projection with unique molecular features, which may provide intervention targets for disabling mental illnesses.

Seeking the Amygdala: Novel Use of Diffusion Tensor Imaging to Delineate the Basolateral Amygdala.

The amygdaloid complex, including the basolateral nucleus (BLA), contributes crucially to emotional and cognitive brain functions, and is a major target of research in both humans and rodents. However, delineating structural amygdala plasticity in both normal and disease-related contexts using neuroimaging has been hampered by the difficulty of unequivocally identifying the boundaries of the BLA. This challenge is a result of the poor contrast between BLA and the surrounding gray matter, including other amygdala nuclei. Here, we describe a novel diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) approach to enhance contrast, enabling the optimal identification of BLA in the rodent brain from magnetic resonance (MR) images. We employed this methodology together with a slice-shifting approach to accurately measure BLA volumes. We then validated the results by direct comparison to both histological and cellular-identity (parvalbumin)-based conventional techniques for defining BLA in the same brains used for MRI. We also confirmed BLA connectivity targets using DTI-based tractography. The novel approach enables the accurate and reliable delineation of BLA. Because this nucleus is involved in and changed by developmental, degenerative and adaptive processes, the instruments provided here should be highly useful to a broad range of neuroimaging studies. Finally, the principles used here are readily applicable to numerous brain regions and across species.

Single-Cell Transcriptional Changes in Hypothalamic Corticotropin-Releasing Factor-Expressing Neurons After Early-Life Adversity Inform Enduring Alterations in Vulnerabilities to Stress.

Background: Mental health and vulnerabilities to neuropsychiatric disorders involve the interplay of genes and environment, particularly during sensitive developmental periods. Early-life adversity (ELA) and stress promote vulnerabilities to stress-related affective disorders, yet it is unknown how transient ELA dictates lifelong neuroendocrine and behavioral reactions to stress. The population of hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)-expressing neurons that regulate stress responses is a promising candidate to mediate the long-lasting influences of ELA on stress-related behavioral and hormonal responses via enduring transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms. Methods: Capitalizing on a well-characterized model of ELA, we examined ELA-induced changes in gene expression profiles of CRF-expressing neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus of developing male mice. We used single-cell RNA sequencing on isolated CRF-expressing neurons. We determined the enduring functional consequences of transcriptional changes on stress reactivity in adult ELA mice, including hormonal responses to acute stress, adrenal weights as a measure of chronic stress, and behaviors in the looming shadow threat task. Results: Single-cell transcriptomics identified distinct and novel CRF-expressing neuronal populations, characterized by both their gene expression repertoire and their neurotransmitter profiles. ELA-provoked expression changes were selective to specific subpopulations and affected genes involved in neuronal differentiation, synapse formation, energy metabolism, and cellular responses to stress and injury. Importantly, these expression changes were impactful, apparent from adrenal hypertrophy and augmented behavioral responses to stress in adulthood. Conclusions: We uncover a novel repertoire of stress-regulating CRF cell types differentially affected by ELA and resulting in augmented stress vulnerability, with relevance to the origins of stress-related affective disorders.

Influence of early-life adversity on responses to acute and chronic ethanol in female mice.

BACKGROUND: Stressful early-life experiences increase the risk of developing an alcohol use disorder. We previously found that male C57BL/6J mice reared under limited bedding and nesting (LBN) conditions, a model of early-life adversity, escalate their ethanol intake in limited-access two-bottle choice (2BC) sessions faster than control (CTL)-reared counterparts when exposed to chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) vapor inhalation. However, the alcohol consumption of female littermates was not affected by LBN or CIE. In the present study, we sought to determine whether this phenotype reflected a general insensitivity of female mice to the influence of early-life stress on alcohol responses. METHODS: In a first experiment, CTL and LBN females with a history of 2BC combined or not with CIE were tested in affective and nociceptive assays during withdrawal. In a second group of CTL and LBN females, we examined ethanol-induced antinociception, sedation, plasma clearance, and c-Fos induction. RESULTS: In females withdrawn from chronic 2BC, CIE increased digging, reduced grooming, and increased immobility in the tail suspension test regardless of early-life history. In contrast, LBN rearing lowered mechanical nociceptive thresholds regardless of CIE exposure. In females acutely treated with ethanol, LBN rearing facilitated antinociception and delayed the onset of sedation without influencing ethanol clearance rate or c-Fos induction in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus, central nucleus of the amygdala, or auditory cortex. CONCLUSION: CIE withdrawal produced multiple indices of negative affect in C57BL/6J females, suggesting that their motivation to consume alcohol may differ from air-exposed counterparts despite equivalent intake. Contrasted with our previous findings in males, LBN-induced mechanical hyperalgesia in chronic alcohol drinkers was specific to females. Lower nociceptive thresholds combined with increased sensitivity to the acute antinociceptive effect of ethanol may contribute to reinforcing ethanol consumption in LBN females but are not sufficient to increase their intake.

Vascular topology and blood flow are acutely impacted by experimental febrile status epilepticus.

Febrile status epilepticus (FSE) is an important risk factor for temporal lobe epilepsy and early identification of those at high risk for epilepsy is vital. In a rat model of FSE, we identified an acute (2 hrs) novel MRI signal where reduced T2 relaxation values in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) predicted epilepsy in adulthood; this T2 signal remains incompletely understood and we hypothesized that it may be influenced by vascular topology. Experimental FSE induced in rat pups reduced blood vessel density of the cortical vasculature in a lateralized manner at 2 hrs post FSE. Middle cerebral artery (MCA) exhibited abnormal topology in FSE pups but not in controls. In the BLA, significant vessel junction reductions and decreased vessel diameter were observed, together with a strong trend for reduced vessel length. Perfusion weighted MRI (PWI) was acutely increased cerebral blood flow (CBF) in cortex, amygdala and hippocampus of FSE pups that correlated to decreased T2 relaxation values compared to controls. This is consistent with increased levels of deoxyhemoglobin associated with increased metabolic demand. In summary, FSE acutely modifies vascular topological and CBF in cortex and BLA that may underlie acute MRI signal changes that predict progression to future epilepsy.

Within-subject changes in methylome profile identify individual signatures of early-life adversity, with a potential to predict neuropsychiatric outcome.

Background: Adverse early-life experiences (ELA), including poverty, trauma and neglect, affect a majority of the world's children. Whereas the impact of ELA on cognitive and emotional health throughout the lifespan is well-established, it is not clear how distinct types of ELA influence child development, and there are no tools to predict for an individual child their vulnerability or resilience to the consequences of ELAs. Epigenetic markers including DNA-methylation profiles of peripheral cells may encode ELA and provide a predictive outcome marker. However, the rapid dynamic changes in DNA methylation in childhood and the inter-individual variance of the human genome pose barriers to identifying profiles predicting outcomes of ELA exposure. Here, we examined the relation of several dimensions of ELA to changes of DNA methylation, using a longitudinal within-subject design and a high threshold for methylation changes in the hope of mitigating the above challenges. Methods: We analyzed DNA methylation in buccal swab samples collected twice for each of 110 infants: neonatally and at 12 months. We identified CpGs differentially methylated across time, calculated methylation changes for each child, and determined whether several indicators of ELA associated with changes of DNA methylation for individual infants. We then correlated select dimensions of ELA with methylation changes as well as with measures of executive function at age 5 years. We examined for sex differences, and derived a sex-dependent 'impact score' based on sites that most contributed to the methylation changes. Findings: Setting a high threshold for methylation changes, we discovered that changes in methylation between two samples of an individual child reflected age-related trends towards augmented methylation, and also correlated with executive function years later. Among the tested factors and ELA dimensions, including income to needs ratios, maternal sensitivity, body mass index and sex, unpredictability of parental and household signals was the strongest predictor of executive function. In girls, an interaction was observed between a measure of high early-life unpredictability and methylation changes, in presaging executive function. Interpretation: These findings establish longitudinal, within-subject changes in methylation profiles as a signature of some types of ELA in an individual child. Notably, such changes are detectable beyond the age-associated DNA methylation dynamics. Future studies are required to determine if the methylation profile changes identified here provide a predictive marker of vulnerabilities to poorer cognitive and emotional outcomes.

Exposure to unpredictability and mental health: Validation of the brief version of the Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood (QUIC-5) in English and Spanish.

Unpredictability is increasingly recognized as a primary dimension of early life adversity affecting lifespan mental health trajectories; screening for these experiences is therefore vital. The Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood (QUIC) is a 38-item tool that measures unpredictability in childhood in social, emotional and physical domains. The available evidence indicates that exposure to unpredictable experiences measured with the QUIC predicts internalizing symptoms including depression and anxiety. The purpose of the present study was to validate English and Spanish brief versions (QUIC-5) suitable for administration in time-limited settings (e.g., clinical care settings, large-scale epidemiological studies). Five representative items were identified from the QUIC and their psychometric properties examined. The predictive validity of the QUIC-5 was then compared to the QUIC by examining mental health in four cohorts: (1) English-speaking adult women assessed at 6-months postpartum (N = 116), (2) English-speaking male veterans (N = 95), (3) English-speaking male and female adolescents (N = 155), and (4) Spanish-speaking male and female adults (N = 285). The QUIC-5 demonstrated substantial variance in distributions in each of the cohorts and is correlated on average 0.84 (r's = 0.81-0.87) with the full 38-item version. Furthermore, the QUIC-5 predicted internalizing symptoms (anxiety and depression) in all cohorts with similar effect sizes (r's = 0.16-0.39; all p's < 0.05) to the full versions (r's = 0.19-0.42; all p's < 0.05). In sum, the QUIC-5 exhibits good psychometric properties and is a valid alternative to the full QUIC. These findings support the future use of the QUIC-5 in clinical and research settings as a concise way to measure unpredictability, identify risk of psychopathology, and intervene accordingly.