Effects of acute and chronic activation of oxytocin receptor on intraneuronal signaling cascades: implications for anxiety-like behaviour

催产素受体的急性和慢性激活对神经元内信号级联的影响：对焦虑样行为的影响

• 批准号: 338314427
• 负责人: Dr. Benjamin Jurek
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Abteilung für Stress Neurobiologie und Neurogenetik
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2016-12-31 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/338314427?language=en
• 关键词: Effects; acute; chronic; activation; oxytocin

The growing interest in the behavioral effects of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) as treatment option for various psychopathologies including anxiety disorders creates the need for a deeper understanding of the molecular processes following acute, but especially chronic OXT receptor (OXTR) activation. Surprisingly, compared to the high number of behavioural studies in animals and humans, neuronal and molecular mechanisms underlying the OXT effects are rarely reported, especially in the context of chronically activated intracellular signaling cascades and their downstream target proteins and genes.Therefore, the present project aims to reveal OXTR-mediated intraneuronal effects in hypothalamic neurons after acute treatment, and to compare these effects with cytoplasmic or genetic alterations after chronic application of OXT in vivo and in vitro. We aim to identify signalling cascades and transcription factors that are essentially involved in the anxiolytic effect of OXT, i.e. we will study alterations in anxiety-related behavior following specific pharmacogenetic manipulation of selected factors using siRNA, CRISPR/cas9, and antagonists in male and female rats. Although some candidate signaling cascades and transcription factors have already been associated with the OXTR in myometrial or neuronal cells, the involvement of those cascades in the regulation of any behavior is unknown. This allowed us to narrow the focus of this application down to a selected set of 7 neuronal factors that are likely to be involved in the regulation of anxiety-like behavior (TRPV2, MEK1/2, ERK5, CaMKII, PKC, CREB, MEF-2). After identifying intraneuronal target factors regulated by acute (Aim 1) or chronic (Aim 2) OXT in vivo, we will assess the molecular details and prove causal links between cascades, transcription factors, and gene transcription in vitro. We hypothesize that the unique combination of signaling cascades causes OXT-specific effects, which are dependent on the dose and duration of treatment, sex, and tissue (brain or periphery, Aim 3). Overall, we aim to reveal detailed neuronal mechanisms of action of OXT essential for the design of an effective and specific therapeutic treatment, e.g. of patients suffering from anxiety disorders.

随着人们对神经肽催产素(OXT)作为治疗包括焦虑症在内的各种精神疾病的选择的行为效应的日益关注，需要更深入地了解急性尤其是慢性OXT受体(OXTR)激活后的分子过程。令人惊讶的是，与在动物和人类中进行的大量行为研究相比，OXT效应背后的神经元和分子机制很少被报道，特别是在长期激活的细胞内信号级联及其下游靶蛋白和基因的背景下。因此，本项目旨在揭示OXTR介导的下丘脑神经元在急性治疗后的神经元内效应，并将这些效应与体内和体外慢性应用OXT后的细胞质或遗传学变化进行比较。我们的目标是确定在OXT的抗焦虑作用中主要参与的信号级联和转录因子，即我们将在雄性和雌性大鼠中使用siRNA、CRISPR/Cas9和拮抗剂来研究特定药物遗传操作选定的因子后焦虑相关行为的变化。虽然一些候选的信号级联和转录因子已经在子宫肌层或神经细胞中与OXTR相关，但这些级联在任何行为调控中的参与尚不清楚。这使得我们能够将这一应用的重点缩小到一组选定的7个神经元因子，它们可能参与调节焦虑样行为(TRPV2、MEK1/2、ERK5、CaMKII、PKC、CREB、MEF-2)。在体内确定了由急性(Aim 1)或慢性(Aim 2)OXT调控的神经细胞内靶因子后，我们将评估分子细节，并在体外证明级联、转录因子和基因转录之间的因果联系。我们假设，信号级联信号的独特组合导致了OXT特异性效应，这取决于治疗的剂量和持续时间、性别和组织(脑或外周，目标3)。总体而言，我们的目标是揭示OXT的详细神经作用机制，这对于设计有效和特定的治疗方法至关重要，例如对焦虑症患者的治疗。