Molecular neurobiology of loss: a role for basolateral amygdala extracellular matrix.

Psychological loss is a common experience that erodes well-being and negatively impacts quality of life. The molecular underpinnings of loss are poorly understood. Here, we investigate the mechanisms of loss using an environmental enrichment removal (ER) paradigm in male rats. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) was identified as a region of interest, demonstrating differential Fos responsivity to ER and having an established role in stress processing and adaptation. A comprehensive multi-omics investigation of the BLA, spanning multiple cohorts, platforms, and analyses, revealed alterations in microglia and the extracellular matrix (ECM). Follow-up studies indicated that ER decreased microglia size, complexity, and phagocytosis, suggesting reduced immune surveillance. Loss also substantially increased ECM coverage, specifically targeting perineuronal nets surrounding parvalbumin interneurons, suggesting decreased plasticity and increased inhibition within the BLA following loss. Behavioral analyses suggest that these molecular effects are linked to impaired BLA salience evaluation, leading to a mismatch between stimulus and reaction intensity. These loss-like behaviors could be rescued by depleting BLA ECM during the removal period, helping us understand the mechanisms underlying loss and revealing novel molecular targets to ameliorate its impact.

Faecalibacterium prausnitzii Attenuates CKD via Butyrate-Renal GPR43 Axis.

BACKGROUND: Despite available clinical management strategies, chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with severe morbidity and mortality worldwide, which beckons new solutions. Host-microbial interactions with a depletion of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii in CKD are reported. However, the mechanisms about if and how F prausnitzii can be used as a probiotic to treat CKD remains unknown. METHODS: We evaluated the microbial compositions in 2 independent CKD populations for any potential probiotic. Next, we investigated if supplementation of such probiotic in a mouse CKD model can restore gut-renal homeostasis as monitored by its effects on suppression on renal inflammation, improvement in gut permeability and renal function. Last, we investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying the probiotic-induced beneficial outcomes. RESULTS: We observed significant depletion of Faecalibacterium in the patients with CKD in both Western (n=283) and Eastern populations (n=75). Supplementation of F prausnitzii to CKD mice reduced renal dysfunction, renal inflammation, and lowered the serum levels of various uremic toxins. These are coupled with improved gut microbial ecology and intestinal integrity. Moreover, we demonstrated that the beneficial effects in kidney induced by F prausnitzii-derived butyrate were through the GPR (G protein-coupled receptor)-43. CONCLUSIONS: Using a mouse CKD model, we uncovered a novel beneficial role of F prausnitzii in the restoration of renal function in CKD, which is, at least in part, attributed to the butyrate-mediated GPR-43 signaling in the kidney. Our study provides the necessary foundation to harness the therapeutic potential of F prausnitzii for ameliorating CKD.

The Ribosome Hypothesis: Decoding Mood Disorder Complexity.

Several types of mood disorders lie along a continuum, with nebulous boundaries between them. Understanding the mechanisms that contribute to mood disorder complexity is critical for effective treatment. However, present treatments are largely centered around neurotransmission and receptor-based hypotheses, which, given the high instance of treatment resistance, fail to adequately explain the complexities of mood disorders. In this opinion piece, based on our recent results, we propose a ribosome hypothesis of mood disorders. We suggest that any hypothesis seeking to explain the diverse nature of mood disorders must incorporate infrastructure diversity that results in a wide range of effects. Ribosomes, with their mobility across neurites and complex composition, have the potential to become specialized during stress; thus, ribosome diversity and dysregulation are well suited to explaining mood disorder complexity. Here, we first establish a framework connecting ribosomes to the current state of knowledge associated with mood disorders. Then, we describe the potential mechanisms through which ribosomes could homeostatically regulate systems to manifest diverse mood disorder phenotypes and discuss approaches for substantiating the ribosome hypothesis. Investigating these mechanisms as therapeutic targets holds promise for transdiagnostic avenues targeting mood disorders.

Differential vulnerability of anterior cingulate cortex cell types to diseases and drugs.

In psychiatric disorders, mismatches between disease states and therapeutic strategies are highly pronounced, largely because of unanswered questions regarding specific vulnerabilities of different cell types and therapeutic responses. Which cellular events (housekeeping or salient) are most affected? Which cell types succumb first to challenges, and which exhibit the strongest response to drugs? Are these events coordinated between cell types? How does disease and drug effect this coordination? To address these questions, we analyzed single-nucleus-RNAseq (sn-RNAseq) data from the human anterior cingulate cortex-a region involved in many psychiatric disorders. Density index, a metric for quantifying similarities and dissimilarities across functional profiles, was employed to identify common or salient functional themes across cell types. Cell-specific signatures were integrated with existing disease and drug-specific signatures to determine cell-type-specific vulnerabilities, druggabilities, and responsiveness. Clustering of functional profiles revealed cell types jointly participating in these events. SST and VIP interneurons were found to be most vulnerable, whereas pyramidal neurons were least. Overall, the disease state is superficial layer-centric, influences cell-specific salient themes, strongly impacts disinhibitory neurons, and influences astrocyte interaction with a subset of deep-layer pyramidal neurons. In absence of disease, drugs profiles largely recapitulate disease profiles, offering a possible explanation for drug side effects. However, in presence of disease, drug activities, are deep layer-centric and involve activating a distinct subset of deep-layer pyramidal neurons to circumvent the disease state's disinhibitory circuit malfunction. These findings demonstrate a novel application of sn-RNAseq data to explain drug and disease action at a systems level.

Molecular characterization of depression trait and state.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a brain disorder often characterized by recurrent episode and remission phases. The molecular correlates of MDD have been investigated in case-control comparisons, but the biological alterations associated with illness trait (regardless of clinical phase) or current state (symptomatic and remitted phases) remain largely unknown, limiting targeted drug discovery. To characterize MDD trait- and state-dependent changes, in single or recurrent depressive episode or remission, we generated transcriptomic profiles of subgenual anterior cingulate cortex of postmortem subjects in first MDD episode (n = 20), in remission after a single episode (n = 15), in recurrent episode (n = 20), in remission after recurring episodes (n = 15) and control subject (n = 20). We analyzed the data at the gene, biological pathway, and cell-specific molecular levels, investigated putative causal events and therapeutic leads. MDD-trait was associated with genes involved in inflammation, immune activation, and reduced bioenergetics (q < 0.05) whereas MDD-states were associated with altered neuronal structure and reduced neurotransmission (q < 0.05). Cell-level deconvolution of transcriptomic data showed significant change in density of GABAergic interneurons positive for corticotropin-releasing hormone, somatostatin, or vasoactive-intestinal peptide (p < 3 × 10-3). A probabilistic Bayesian-network approach showed causal roles of immune-system-activation (q < 8.67 × 10-3), cytokine-response (q < 4.79 × 10-27) and oxidative-stress (q < 2.05 × 10-3) across MDD-phases. Gene-sets associated with these putative causal changes show inverse associations with the transcriptomic effects of dopaminergic and monoaminergic ligands. The study provides first insights into distinct cellular and molecular pathologies associated with trait- and state-MDD, on plasticity mechanisms linking the two pathologies, and on a method of drug discovery focused on putative disease-causing pathways.

Similarities and dissimilarities between psychiatric cluster disorders.

The common molecular mechanisms underlying psychiatric disorders are not well understood. Prior attempts to assess the pathological mechanisms responsible for psychiatric disorders have been limited by biased selection of comparable disorders, datasets/cohort availability, and challenges with data normalization. Here, using DisGeNET, a gene-disease associations database, we sought to expand such investigations in terms of number and types of diseases. In a top-down manner, we analyzed an unbiased cluster of 36 psychiatric disorders and comorbid conditions at biological pathway, cell-type, drug-target, and chromosome levels and deployed density index, a novel metric to quantify similarities (close to 1) and dissimilarities (close to 0) between these disorders at each level. At pathway level, we show that cognition and neurotransmission drive the similarity and are involved across all disorders, whereas immune-system and signal-response coupling (cell surface receptors, signal transduction, gene expression, and metabolic process) drives the dissimilarity and are involved with specific disorders. The analysis at the drug-target level supports the involvement of neurotransmission-related changes across these disorders. At cell-type level, dendrite-targeting interneurons, across all layers, are most involved. Finally, by matching the clustering pattern at each level of analysis, we showed that the similarity between the disorders is influenced most at the chromosomal level and to some extent at the cellular level. Together, these findings provide first insights into distinct cellular and molecular pathologies, druggable mechanisms associated with several psychiatric disorders and comorbid conditions and demonstrate that similarities between these disorders originate at the chromosome level and disperse in a bottom-up manner at cellular and pathway levels.

Transcriptional profile of pyramidal neurons in chronic schizophrenia reveals lamina-specific dysfunction of neuronal immunity.

While the pathophysiology of schizophrenia has been extensively investigated using homogenized postmortem brain samples, few studies have examined changes in brain samples with techniques that may attribute perturbations to specific cell types. To fill this gap, we performed microarray assays on mRNA isolated from anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) superficial and deep pyramidal neurons from 12 schizophrenia and 12 control subjects using laser-capture microdissection. Among all the annotated genes, we identified 134 significantly increased and 130 decreased genes in superficial pyramidal neurons, while 93 significantly increased and 101 decreased genes were found in deep pyramidal neurons, in schizophrenia compared to control subjects. In these differentially expressed genes, we detected lamina-specific changes of 55 and 31 genes in superficial and deep neurons in schizophrenia, respectively. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was applied to the entire pre-ranked differential expression gene lists to gain a complete pathway analysis throughout all annotated genes. Our analysis revealed overrepresented groups of gene sets in schizophrenia, particularly in immunity and synapse-related pathways, suggesting the disruption of these pathways plays an important role in schizophrenia. We also detected other pathways previously demonstrated in schizophrenia pathophysiology, including cytokine and chemotaxis, postsynaptic signaling, and glutamatergic synapses. In addition, we observed several novel pathways, including ubiquitin-independent protein catabolic process. Considering the effects of antipsychotic treatment on gene expression, we applied a novel bioinformatics approach to compare our differential expression gene profiles with 51 antipsychotic treatment datasets, demonstrating that our results were not influenced by antipsychotic treatment. Taken together, we found pyramidal neuron-specific changes in neuronal immunity, synaptic dysfunction, and olfactory dysregulation in schizophrenia, providing new insights for the cell-subtype specific pathophysiology of chronic schizophrenia.

Role of Astrocytes in Major Neuropsychiatric Disorders.

Astrocytes are the primary homeostatic cells of the central nervous system, essential for normal neuronal development and function, metabolism and response to injury and inflammation. Here, we review postmortem studies examining changes in astrocytes in subjects diagnosed with the neuropsychiatric disorders schizophrenia (SCZ), major depressive disorder (MDD), and bipolar disorder (BPD). We discuss the astrocyte-related changes described in the brain in these disorders and the potential effects of psychotropic medication on these findings. Finally, we describe emerging tools that can be used to study the role of astrocytes in neuropsychiatric illness.

Molecular and Cellular Evidence for Age by Disease Interactions: Updates and Path Forward.

Characterization of age-associated gene expression changes shows that the brain engages a specific set of genes and biologic pathways along a continuous life-long trajectory and that these genes and pathways overlap with those associated with brain-related disorders. Based on this correlative observation, we have suggested a model of age-by-disease interaction by which brain ageing promotes biologic changes associated with diseases and where deviations from expected age-related trajectories, due to biologic and environmental factors, contribute to defining disease risk or resiliency. In this review, we first evaluate various biomarkers that can be used to study age-by-disease interactions and then focus on transcriptome analysis (i.e., the set of all expressed genes) as a useful tool to explore this interaction. Using the specific example of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor-associated genes, we then describe molecular events and mechanisms potentially contributing to age-by-disease interactions. Finally, we suggest that long-term biologic adaptations within distinct cellular components of cortical microcircuits, as determined by transcriptome analysis, may integrate and mediate the effects of ageing and diseases. Moving forward, we suggest that analysis of transcriptome similarities between ageing and small molecule-induced system perturbations may lead to novel therapeutics discovery.

Emerging Kinase Therapeutic Targets in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma and Pancreatic Cancer Desmoplasia.

Kinase drug discovery represents an active area of therapeutic research, with previous pharmaceutical success improving patient outcomes across a wide variety of human diseases. In pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), innovative pharmaceutical strategies such as kinase targeting have been unable to appreciably increase patient survival. This may be due, in part, to unchecked desmoplastic reactions to pancreatic tumors. Desmoplastic stroma enhances tumor development and progression while simultaneously restricting drug delivery to the tumor cells it protects. Emerging evidence indicates that many of the pathologic fibrotic processes directly or indirectly supporting desmoplasia may be driven by targetable protein tyrosine kinases such as Fyn-related kinase (FRK); B lymphoid kinase (BLK); hemopoietic cell kinase (HCK); ABL proto-oncogene 2 kinase (ABL2); discoidin domain receptor 1 kinase (DDR1); Lck/Yes-related novel kinase (LYN); ephrin receptor A8 kinase (EPHA8); FYN proto-oncogene kinase (FYN); lymphocyte cell-specific kinase (LCK); tec protein kinase (TEC). Herein, we review literature related to these kinases and posit signaling networks, mechanisms, and biochemical relationships by which this group may contribute to PDAC tumor growth and desmoplasia.

Kinome Array Profiling of Patient-Derived Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Identifies Differentially Active Protein Tyrosine Kinases.

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most difficult malignancies to treat. Minimal improvements in patient outcomes and persistently abysmal patient survival rates underscore the great need for new treatment strategies. Currently, there is intense interest in therapeutic strategies that target tyrosine protein kinases. Here, we employed kinome arrays and bioinformatic pipelines capable of identifying differentially active protein tyrosine kinases in different patient-derived pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cell lines and wild-type pancreatic tissue to investigate the unique kinomic networks of PDAC samples and posit novel target kinases for pancreatic cancer therapy. Consistent with previously described reports, the resultant peptide-based kinome array profiles identified increased protein tyrosine kinase activity in pancreatic cancer for the following kinases: epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), fms related receptor tyrosine kinase 4/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (FLT4/VEGFR-3), insulin receptor (INSR), ephrin receptor A2 (EPHA2), platelet derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRA), SRC proto-oncogene kinase (SRC), and tyrosine kinase non receptor 2 (TNK2). Furthermore, this study identified increased activity for protein tyrosine kinases with limited prior evidence of differential activity in pancreatic cancer. These protein tyrosine kinases include B lymphoid kinase (BLK), Fyn-related kinase (FRK), Lck/Yes-related novel kinase (LYN), FYN proto-oncogene kinase (FYN), lymphocyte cell-specific kinase (LCK), tec protein kinase (TEC), hemopoietic cell kinase (HCK), ABL proto-oncogene 2 kinase (ABL2), discoidin domain receptor 1 kinase (DDR1), and ephrin receptor A8 kinase (EPHA8). Together, these results support the utility of peptide array kinomic analyses in the generation of potential candidate kinases for future pancreatic cancer therapeutic development.

Developmental pyrethroid exposure disrupts molecular pathways for MAP kinase and circadian rhythms in mouse brain.

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) are a category of pervasive disorders of the developing nervous system with few or no recognized biomarkers. A significant portion of the risk for NDDs, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is contributed by the environment, and exposure to pyrethroid pesticides during pregnancy has been identified as a potential risk factor for NDD in the unborn child. We recently showed that low-dose developmental exposure to the pyrethroid pesticide deltamethrin in mice causes male-biased changes to ADHD- and NDD-relevant behaviors as well as the striatal dopamine system. Here, we used an integrated multiomics approach to determine the broadest possible set of biological changes in the mouse brain caused by developmental pyrethroid exposure (DPE). Using a litter-based, split-sample design, we exposed mouse dams during pregnancy and lactation to deltamethrin (3 mg/kg or vehicle every 3 days) at a concentration well below the EPA-determined benchmark dose used for regulatory guidance. We raised male offspring to adulthood, euthanized them, and pulverized and divided whole brain samples for split-sample transcriptomics, kinomics and multiomics integration. Transcriptome analysis revealed alterations to multiple canonical clock genes, and kinome analysis revealed changes in the activity of multiple kinases involved in synaptic plasticity, including the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase ERK. Multiomics integration revealed a dysregulated protein-protein interaction network containing primary clusters for MAP kinase cascades, regulation of apoptosis, and synaptic function. These results demonstrate that DPE causes a multi-modal biophenotype in the brain relevant to ADHD and identifies new potential mechanisms of action.

Differential expression patterns of striate cortex-enriched genes among Old World, New World, and prosimian primates.

A group of 5 genes, OCC1, testican-1, testican-2, 5-HT1B, and 5-HT2A, are selectively expressed in layer 4 (4C of Brodmann) of striate cortex (visual area V1) of both Old World macaques and New World marmoset monkeys. The expression of these genes is activity dependent, as expression is reduced after blocking retinal activity. Surprisingly, the pronounced expression pattern has not been found in rodents or carnivores. Thus, these genes may be highly expressed in V1 of some but perhaps not all primates. Here, we compared the gene expression in members of 3 major branches of primate evolution: prosimians, New World monkeys, and Old World monkeys. Although the expression pattern of 5-HT1B was well conserved, those of the other genes varied from the least distinct in prosimian galagos to successively more in New World owl monkeys, marmosets, squirrel monkeys, and Old World macaque monkeys. In owl monkeys, the expression of 5-HT2A was significantly reduced by monocular tetrodotoxin injection, while those of OCC1 and 5-HT1B were not. Thus, we propose that early primates had low levels of expression and higher levels emerged with anthropoid primates and became further enhanced in the Old World catarrhine monkeys that are more closely related to humans.

Synapses, predictions, and prediction errors: A neocortical computational study of MDD using the temporal memory algorithm of HTM.

Introduction: Synapses and spines play a significant role in major depressive disorder (MDD) pathophysiology, recently highlighted by the rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine and psilocybin. According to the Bayesian brain and interoception perspectives, MDD is formalized as being stuck in affective states constantly predicting negative energy balance. To understand how spines and synapses relate to the predictive function of the neocortex and thus to symptoms, we used the temporal memory (TM), an unsupervised machine-learning algorithm. TM models a single neocortical layer, learns in real-time, and extracts and predicts temporal sequences. TM exhibits neocortical biological features such as sparse firing and continuous online learning using local Hebbian-learning rules. Methods: We trained a TM model on random sequences of upper-case alphabetical letters, representing sequences of affective states. To model depression, we progressively destroyed synapses in the TM model and examined how that affected the predictive capacity of the network. We found that the number of predictions decreased non-linearly. Results: Destroying 50% of the synapses slightly reduced the number of predictions, followed by a marked drop with further destruction. However, reducing the synapses by 25% distinctly dropped the confidence in the predictions. Therefore, even though the network was making accurate predictions, the network was no longer confident about these predictions. Discussion: These findings explain how interoceptive cortices could be stuck in limited affective states with high prediction error. Connecting ketamine and psilocybin's proposed mechanism of action to depression pathophysiology, the growth of new synapses would allow representing more futuristic predictions with higher confidence. To our knowledge, this is the first study to use the TM model to connect changes happening at synaptic levels to the Bayesian formulation of psychiatric symptomatology. Linking neurobiological abnormalities to symptoms will allow us to understand the mechanisms of treatments and possibly, develop new ones.

Ribosomal dysregulation: A conserved pathophysiological mechanism in human depression and mouse chronic stress.

The underlying biological mechanisms that contribute to the heterogeneity of major depressive disorder (MDD) presentation remain poorly understood, highlighting the need for a conceptual framework that can explain this variability and bridge the gap between animal models and clinical endpoints. Here, we hypothesize that comparative analysis of molecular data from different experimental systems of chronic stress, and MDD has the potential to provide insight into these mechanisms and address this gap. Thus, we compared transcriptomic profiles of brain tissue from postmortem MDD subjects and from mice exposed to chronic variable stress (CVS) to identify orthologous genes. Ribosomal protein genes (RPGs) were down-regulated, and associated ribosomal protein (RP) pseudogenes were up-regulated in both conditions. A seeded gene co-expression analysis using altered RPGs common between the MDD and CVS groups revealed that down-regulated RPGs homeostatically regulated the synaptic changes in both groups through a RP-pseudogene-driven mechanism. In vitro analysis demonstrated that the RPG dysregulation was a glucocorticoid-driven endocrine response to stress. In silico analysis further demonstrated that the dysregulation was reversed during remission from MDD and selectively responded to ketamine but not to imipramine. This study provides the first evidence that ribosomal dysregulation during stress is a conserved phenotype in human MDD and chronic stress-exposed mouse. Our results establish a foundation for the hypothesis that stress-induced alterations in RPGs and, consequently, ribosomes contribute to the synaptic dysregulation underlying MDD and chronic stress-related mood disorders. We discuss the role of ribosomal heterogeneity in the variable presentations of depression and other mood disorders.

Chronic Stress Induces Coordinated Cortical Microcircuit Cell-Type Transcriptomic Changes Consistent With Altered Information Processing.

BACKGROUND: Information processing in cortical cell microcircuits involves regulation of excitatory pyramidal (PYR) cells by inhibitory somatostatin- (SST), parvalbumin-, and vasoactive intestinal peptide-expressing interneurons. Human postmortem and rodent studies show impaired PYR cell dendritic morphology and decreased SST cell markers in major depressive disorder or after chronic stress. However, knowledge of coordinated changes across microcircuit cell types is virtually absent. METHODS: We investigated the transcriptomic effects of unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) on distinct microcircuit cell types in the medial prefrontal cortex (cingulate regions 24a, 24b, and 32) in mice. C57BL/6 mice, exposed to UCMS or control housing for 5 weeks, were assessed for anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors. Microcircuit cell types were laser microdissected and processed for RNA sequencing. RESULTS: UCMS induced predicted elevations in behavioral emotionality in mice. DESeq2 analysis revealed unique differentially expressed genes in each cell type after UCMS. Presynaptic functions, oxidative stress response, metabolism, and translational regulation were differentially dysregulated across cell types, whereas nearly all cell types showed downregulated postsynaptic gene signatures. Across the cortical microcircuit, we observed a shift from a distributed transcriptomic coordination across cell types in control mice toward UCMS-induced increased coordination between PYR, SST, and parvalbumin cells and a hub-like role for PYR cells. Finally, we identified a microcircuit-wide coexpression network enriched in synaptic, bioenergetic, and oxidative stress response genes that correlated with UCMS-induced behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest cell-specific deficits, microcircuit-wide synaptic reorganization, and a shift in cells regulating the cortical excitation-inhibition balance, suggesting increased coordinated regulation of PYR cells by SST and parvalbumin cells.

Assessing the effects of antipsychotic medications on schizophrenia functional analysis: a postmortem proteome study.

Antipsychotic drugs (APDs) are effective in treating positive symptoms of schizophrenia (SCZ). However, they have a substantial impact on postmortem studies. As most cohorts lack samples from drug-naive patients, many studies, rather than understanding SCZ pathophysiology, are analyzing the drug effects. We hypothesized that comparing SCZ-altered and APD-influenced signatures derived from the same cohort can provide better insight into SCZ pathophysiology. For this, we performed LCMS-based proteomics on dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) samples from control and SCZ subjects and used statistical approaches to identify SCZ-altered and APD-influenced proteomes, validated experimentally using independent cohorts and published datasets. Functional analysis of both proteomes was contrasted at the biological-pathway, cell-type, subcellular-synaptic, and drug-target levels. In silico validation revealed that the SCZ-altered proteome was conserved across several studies from the DLPFC and other brain areas. At the pathway level, SCZ influenced changes in homeostasis, signal-transduction, cytoskeleton, and dendrites, whereas APD influenced changes in synaptic-signaling, neurotransmitter-regulation, and immune-system processes. At the cell-type level, the SCZ-altered and APD-influenced proteomes were associated with two distinct striatum-projecting layer-5 pyramidal neurons regulating dopaminergic-secretion. At the subcellular synaptic level, compensatory pre- and postsynaptic events were observed. At the drug-target level, dopaminergic processes influenced the SCZ-altered upregulated-proteome, whereas nondopaminergic and a diverse array of non-neuromodulatory mechanisms influenced the downregulated-proteome. Previous findings were not independent of the APD effect and thus require re-evaluation. We identified a hyperdopaminergic cortex and drugs targeting the cognitive SCZ-symptoms and discussed their influence on SCZ pathology in the context of the cortico-striatal pathway.

BDNF controls GABAAR trafficking and related cognitive processes via autophagic regulation of p62.

Reduced brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmission co-occur in brain conditions (depression, schizophrenia and age-related disorders) and are associated with symptomatology. Rodent studies show they are causally linked, suggesting the presence of biological pathways mediating this link. Here we first show that reduced BDNF and GABA also co-occur with attenuated autophagy in human depression. Using mice, we then show that reducing Bdnf levels (Bdnf+/-) leads to upregulated sequestosome-1/p62, a key autophagy-associated adaptor protein, whose levels are inversely correlated with autophagic activity. Reduced Bdnf levels also caused reduced surface presentation of α5 subunit-containing GABAA receptor (α5-GABAAR) in prefrontal cortex (PFC) pyramidal neurons. Reducing p62 gene dosage restored α5-GABAAR surface expression and rescued PFC-relevant behavioral deficits of Bdnf+/- mice, including cognitive inflexibility and reduced sensorimotor gating. Increasing p62 levels was sufficient to recreate the molecular and behavioral profiles of Bdnf+/- mice. Collectively, the data reveal a novel mechanism by which deficient BDNF leads to targeted reduced GABAergic signaling through autophagic dysregulation of p62, potentially underlying cognitive impairment across brain conditions.

The active kinome: The modern view of how active protein kinase networks fit in biological research.

Biological regulatory networks are dynamic, intertwined, and complex systems making them challenging to study. While quantitative measurements of transcripts and proteins are key to investigate the state of a biological system, they do not inform the "active" state of regulatory networks. In consideration of that fact, "functional" proteomics assessments are needed to decipher active regulatory processes. Phosphorylation, a key post-translation modification, is a reversible regulatory mechanism that controls the functional state of proteins. Recent advancements of high-throughput protein kinase activity profiling platforms allow for a broad assessment of protein kinase networks in complex biological systems. In conjunction with sophisticated computational modeling techniques, these profiling platforms provide datasets that inform the active state of regulatory systems in disease models and highlight potential drug targets. Taken together, system-wide profiling of protein kinase activity has become a critical component of modern molecular biology research and presents a promising avenue for drug discovery.

Gene Enrichment Analysis of Astrocyte Subtypes in Psychiatric Disorders and Psychotropic Medication Datasets.

Astrocytes have many important functions in the brain, but their roles in psychiatric disorders and their responses to psychotropic medications are still being elucidated. Here, we used gene enrichment analysis to assess the relationships between different astrocyte subtypes, psychiatric diseases, and psychotropic medications (antipsychotics, antidepressants and mood stabilizers). We also carried out qPCR analyses and "look-up" studies to assess the chronic effects of these drugs on astrocyte marker gene expression. Our bioinformatic analysis identified gene enrichment of different astrocyte subtypes in psychiatric disorders. The highest level of enrichment was found in schizophrenia, supporting a role for astrocytes in this disorder. We also found differential enrichment of astrocyte subtypes associated with specific biological processes, highlighting the complex responses of astrocytes under pathological conditions. Enrichment of protein phosphorylation in astrocytes and disease was confirmed by biochemical analysis. Analysis of LINCS chemical perturbagen gene signatures also found that kinase inhibitors were highly discordant with astrocyte-SCZ associated gene signatures. However, we found that common gene enrichment of different psychotropic medications and astrocyte subtypes was limited. These results were confirmed by "look-up" studies and qPCR analysis, which also reported little effect of psychotropic medications on common astrocyte marker gene expression, suggesting that astrocytes are not a primary target of these medications. Conversely, antipsychotic medication does affect astrocyte gene marker expression in postmortem schizophrenia brain tissue, supporting specific astrocyte responses in different pathological conditions. Overall, this study provides a unique view of astrocyte subtypes and the effect of medications on astrocytes in disease, which will contribute to our understanding of their role in psychiatric disorders and offers insights into targeting astrocytes therapeutically.