Effects of prenatal Poly I:C exposure on global histone deacetylase (HDAC) and DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) activity in the mouse brain.

The aim of our study was to investigate the brain-specific epigenetic effects on global enzymatic histone deacetylase (HDAC) and DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) activity after prenatal exposure to maternal immune challenge by polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (Poly I:C) at gestational day (GD) 17 in C57BL/6JRccHsd mouse offspring. Pregnant mice were randomly divided into 2 groups, receiving either 5 mg/kg Poly I:C or phosphate buffered saline (PBS) intravenously at GD 17. Subsequently, the effects on whole brain enzymatic HDAC and DNMT activity and the protein levels of various HDAC isoforms were assessed in the offspring. Overall, a significant sex × treatment interaction effect was observed after prenatal exposure to maternal immune challenge by Poly I:C, indicative of increased global HDAC activity particularly in female offspring from mothers injected with Poly I:C when compared to controls. Results on the levels of specific HDAC isoforms suggested that neither differences in the levels of HDAC1, HDAC2, HDAC3, HDAC4 or HDAC6 could explain the increased global HDAC activity observed in female Poly I:C offspring. In conclusion, we show that Poly I:C administration to pregnant mice alters global brain HDAC, but not DNMT activity in adult offspring, whereas it is still unclear which specific HDAC(s) mediate(s) this effect. These results indicate the necessity for further research on the epigenetic effects of Poly I:C.

Biobanking in everyday clinical practice in psychiatry-The Munich Mental Health Biobank.

Translational research on complex, multifactorial mental health disorders, such as bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and substance use disorders requires databases with large-scale, harmonized, and integrated real-world and research data. The Munich Mental Health Biobank (MMHB) is a mental health-specific biobank that was established in 2019 to collect, store, connect, and supply such high-quality phenotypic data and biosamples from patients and study participants, including healthy controls, recruited at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (DPP) and the Institute of Psychiatric Phenomics and Genomics (IPPG), University Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU), Munich, Germany. Participants are asked to complete a questionnaire that assesses sociodemographic and cross-diagnostic clinical information, provide blood samples, and grant access to their existing medical records. The generated data and biosamples are available to both academic and industry researchers. In this manuscript, we outline the workflow and infrastructure of the MMHB, describe the clinical characteristics and representativeness of the sample collected so far, and reveal future plans for expansion and application. As of 31 October 2021, the MMHB contains a continuously growing set of data from 578 patients and 104 healthy controls (46.37% women; median age, 38.31 years). The five most common mental health diagnoses in the MMHB are recurrent depressive disorder (38.78%; ICD-10: F33), alcohol-related disorders (19.88%; ICD-10: F10), schizophrenia (19.69%; ICD-10: F20), depressive episode (15.94%; ICD-10: F32), and personality disorders (13.78%; ICD-10: F60). Compared with the average patient treated at the recruiting hospitals, MMHB participants have significantly more mental health-related contacts, less severe symptoms, and a higher level of functioning. The distribution of diagnoses is also markedly different in MMHB participants compared with individuals who did not participate in the biobank. After establishing the necessary infrastructure and initiating recruitment, the major tasks for the next phase of the MMHB project are to improve the pace of participant enrollment, diversify the sociodemographic and diagnostic characteristics of the sample, and improve the utilization of real-world data generated in routine clinical practice.

Role of psychiatric hospitals during a pandemic: introducing the Munich Psychiatric COVID-19 Pandemic Contingency Plan.

BACKGROUND: Psychiatry is facing major challenges during the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID)-19 pandemic. These challenges involve its actual and perceived role within the medical system, in particular how psychiatric hospitals can maintain their core mission of attending to people with mental illness while at the same time providing relief to overstretched general medicine services. Although psychiatric disorders comprise the leading cause of the global burden of disease, mental healthcare has been deemphasised in the wake of the onslaught of the pandemic: to make room for emergency care, psychiatric wards have been downsized, clinics closed, psychiatric support systems discontinued and so on. To deal with this pressing issue, we developed a pandemic contingency plan with the aim to contain, decelerate and, preferably, avoid transmission of COVID-19 and to enable and maintain medical healthcare for patients with mental disorders. AIMS: To describe our plan as an example of how a psychiatric hospital can share in providing acute care in a healthcare system facing an acute and highly infectious pandemic like COVID-19 and at the same time provide support for people with mental illness, with or without a COVID-19 infection. METHOD: This was a descriptive study. RESULTS: The plan was based on the German national pandemic strategy and several legal recommendations and was implemented step by step on the basis of the local COVID-19 situation. In addition, mid- and long-term plans were developed for coping with the aftermath of the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: The plan enabled the University Hospital to maintain medical healthcare for patients with mental disorders. It has offered the necessary flexibility to adapt its implementation to the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. The plan is designed to serve as an easily adaptable blueprint for psychiatric hospitals around the world.

Expression pattern of fatty acid transport protein-1 (FATP-1), FATP-4 and heart-fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) genes in human term placenta.

Placental tissue from five women undergoing elective caesarean did not present differences in fatty acids or mRNA expression of FATP-1, FATP-4 and H-FABP in different placental locations. mRNA expression of FATP-1 and FATP-4 was significantly higher than H-FABP. The expression of L-FABP was too low in placenta for accurate quantification.