Brain region specific methylation and Sirt1 binding changes in MAOA promoter is associated with sexual dimorphism in early life stress induced aggressive behavior

Publication date: Available online 24 July 2019Source: Neurochemistry InternationalAuthor(s): Arpita Konar, Mohit Rastogi, Aksheev BhambriAbstractThe maladaptive form of aggressive behavior confers risk for violence and criminal incidences with profound impact on society. Although considerable research has been devoted to elucidate the etiology of aggression, molecular correlates of sex differences remains largely unexplored. Also, little attention has been given to whether males and females respond differently to similar causal factor of aggression. Here, we show the possible association of brain region specific neural activity (c-Fos expression) and monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) epigenetic state with sexual dimorphism in peripubertal stress (PPS) induced adulthood aggression. While PPS adult males exhibited escalated aggression, females spent maximal time in social exploration. c-Fos expression was brain region and sex specific. In the PPS adult cohort, only males showed elevated c-Fos expression in the prefrontal cortex, indicative of their hyper-responsive behavior. MAOA expression and enzyme activity was reduced in hypothalamus and increased in prefrontal cortex of hyper-aggressive male mice. Investigation into the underlying mechanisms revealed hypomethylation in prefrontal cortex and hypermethylation in hypothalamus of MAOA promoter negatively correlating with the expression pattern. On the other hand, binding of Sirt1 to MAOA promoter was diametrically opposite being inc...
Source: Neurochemistry International - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research