Altered estradiol-dependent cellular Ca homeostasis and endoplasmic reticulum stress response in Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder.

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) is characterized by debilitating mood symptoms in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. Prior studies of affected women have implicated a differential response to ovarian steroids. However, the molecular basis of these patients' differential response to hormone remains poorly understood.

Assessment of the Association of D2 Dopamine Receptor Gene and Reported Allele Frequencies With Alcohol Use Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Importance: The association between the D2 dopamine receptor gene (DRD2) Taq1A locus (rs1800497) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) is enduring but the subject of long-standing controversy; meta-analysis of studies across 3 decades shows an association between rs1800497 and AUD, but genome-wide analyses have detected no role for rs1800497 in any phenotype. No evidence has emerged that rs1800497, which is located in ANKK1, perturbs the expression or function of DRD2.

Objective: To resolve contradictions in previous studies by identifying hidden confounders and assaying for functional effects of rs1800497 and other loci in the DRD2 region.

Maternal smoking and autism spectrum disorder: meta-analysis with population smoking metrics as moderators.

While exposure to nicotine during developmental periods can significantly affect brain development, studies examining the association between maternal smoking and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring have produced conflicting findings, and prior meta-analyses have found no significant association. Our meta-analysis used a novel approach of investigating population-level smoking metrics as moderators. The main meta-analysis, with 22 observational studies comprising 795,632 cases and 1,829,256 control participants, used a random-effects model to find no significant association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and ASD in offspring (pooled odds ratio (OR) = 1.

An epigenetic mechanism mediates developmental nicotine effects on neuronal structure and behavior.

Developmental nicotine exposure causes persistent changes in cortical neuron morphology and in behavior. We used microarray screening to identify master transcriptional or epigenetic regulators mediating these effects of nicotine and discovered increases in Ash2l mRNA, encoding a component of a histone methyltransferase complex. We therefore examined genome-wide changes in trimethylation of histone H3 on Lys4 (H3K4me3), a mark induced by the Ash2l complex associated with increased gene transcription.

The synaptic adhesion molecule SynCAM 1 contributes to cocaine effects on synapse structure and psychostimulant behavior.

Drugs of abuse have acute and persistent effects on synapse structure and addiction-related behaviors. Trans-synaptic interactions can control synapse development, and synaptic cell adhesion molecule (SynCAM) proteins (also named nectin-like molecules) are immunoglobulin adhesion proteins that span the synaptic cleft and induce excitatory synapses. Our studies now reveal that the loss of SynCAM 1 in knockout (KO) mice reduces excitatory synapse number in nucleus accumbens (NAc).

Constitutive knockout of the membrane cytoskeleton protein beta adducin decreases mushroom spine density in the nucleus accumbens but does not prevent spine remodeling in response to cocaine.

The adducin family of proteins associates with the actin cytoskeleton in a calcium-dependent manner. Beta adducin (βAdd) is involved in synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus; however, the role of βAdd in synaptic plasticity in other brain areas is unknown. Using diolistic labeling with the lipophilic dye DiI, we found that the density of mature mushroom-shaped spines was significantly decreased in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in brain slices from βAdd-knockout (KO) mice as compared to their wildtype (WT) siblings.

Collapsin response mediator protein-2 regulates neurite formation by modulating tubulin GTPase activity.

Collapsin response mediator protein-2 (CRMP-2) plays a key role in axonal development by regulating microtubule dynamics. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this function have not been clearly elucidated. In this study, we demonstrated that hCRMP-2, specifically amino acid residues 480-509, is essential for stimulating tubulin GTPase activity.