Differential Epigenetic Changes in the Dorsal Hippocampus of Male and Female SAMP8 Mice: A Preliminary Study
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common age-related neurodegenerative disease characterized by memory loss and cognitive impairment. The causes of the disease are not well understood, as it involves a complex interaction between genetic, environmental, and epigenetic factors. SAMP8 mice have bee...
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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author | Federico Ravanelli Laura Musazzi Silvia Stella Barbieri Gianenrico Rovati Maurizio Popoli Alessandro Barbon Alessandro Ieraci |
author_facet | Federico Ravanelli Laura Musazzi Silvia Stella Barbieri Gianenrico Rovati Maurizio Popoli Alessandro Barbon Alessandro Ieraci |
author_sort | Federico Ravanelli |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common age-related neurodegenerative disease characterized by memory loss and cognitive impairment. The causes of the disease are not well understood, as it involves a complex interaction between genetic, environmental, and epigenetic factors. SAMP8 mice have been proposed as a model for studying late-onset AD, since they show age-related learning and memory deficits as well as several features of AD pathogenesis. Epigenetic changes have been described in SAMP8 mice, although sex differences have never been evaluated. Here we used western blot and qPCR analyses to investigate whether epigenetic markers are differentially altered in the dorsal hippocampus, a region important for the regulation of learning and memory, of 9-month-old male and female SAMP8 mice. We found that H3Ac was selectively reduced in male SAMP8 mice compared to male SAMR1 control mice, but not in female mice, whereas H3K27me3 was reduced overall in SAMP8 mice. Moreover, the levels of HDAC2 and <i>JmjD3</i> were increased, whereas the levels of HDAC4 and <i>Dnmt3a</i> were reduced in SAMP8 mice compared to SAMR1. In addition, levels of HDAC1 were reduced, whereas <i>Utx</i> and <i>Jmjd3</i> were selectively increased in females compared to males. Although our results are preliminary, they suggest that epigenetic mechanisms in the dorsal hippocampus are differentially regulated in male and female SAMP8 mice. |
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issn | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:22:12Z |
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spelling | doaj.art-040b0046e29347da88e0f1142c1be9022023-11-19T08:12:15ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences1661-65961422-00672023-08-0124171308410.3390/ijms241713084Differential Epigenetic Changes in the Dorsal Hippocampus of Male and Female SAMP8 Mice: A Preliminary StudyFederico Ravanelli0Laura Musazzi1Silvia Stella Barbieri2Gianenrico Rovati3Maurizio Popoli4Alessandro Barbon5Alessandro Ieraci6Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, ItalyUnit of Brain-Heart Axis: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms, Centro Cardiologico Monzino IRCCS, 20138 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Milan, 20133 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, ItalyDepartment of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, eCampus University, 22060 Novedrate, ItalyAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common age-related neurodegenerative disease characterized by memory loss and cognitive impairment. The causes of the disease are not well understood, as it involves a complex interaction between genetic, environmental, and epigenetic factors. SAMP8 mice have been proposed as a model for studying late-onset AD, since they show age-related learning and memory deficits as well as several features of AD pathogenesis. Epigenetic changes have been described in SAMP8 mice, although sex differences have never been evaluated. Here we used western blot and qPCR analyses to investigate whether epigenetic markers are differentially altered in the dorsal hippocampus, a region important for the regulation of learning and memory, of 9-month-old male and female SAMP8 mice. We found that H3Ac was selectively reduced in male SAMP8 mice compared to male SAMR1 control mice, but not in female mice, whereas H3K27me3 was reduced overall in SAMP8 mice. Moreover, the levels of HDAC2 and <i>JmjD3</i> were increased, whereas the levels of HDAC4 and <i>Dnmt3a</i> were reduced in SAMP8 mice compared to SAMR1. In addition, levels of HDAC1 were reduced, whereas <i>Utx</i> and <i>Jmjd3</i> were selectively increased in females compared to males. Although our results are preliminary, they suggest that epigenetic mechanisms in the dorsal hippocampus are differentially regulated in male and female SAMP8 mice.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/17/13084agingAlzheimer’s diseaseSAMP8 micehistone post-translational modificationssex difference |
spellingShingle | Federico Ravanelli Laura Musazzi Silvia Stella Barbieri Gianenrico Rovati Maurizio Popoli Alessandro Barbon Alessandro Ieraci Differential Epigenetic Changes in the Dorsal Hippocampus of Male and Female SAMP8 Mice: A Preliminary Study International Journal of Molecular Sciences aging Alzheimer’s disease SAMP8 mice histone post-translational modifications sex difference |
title | Differential Epigenetic Changes in the Dorsal Hippocampus of Male and Female SAMP8 Mice: A Preliminary Study |
title_full | Differential Epigenetic Changes in the Dorsal Hippocampus of Male and Female SAMP8 Mice: A Preliminary Study |
title_fullStr | Differential Epigenetic Changes in the Dorsal Hippocampus of Male and Female SAMP8 Mice: A Preliminary Study |
title_full_unstemmed | Differential Epigenetic Changes in the Dorsal Hippocampus of Male and Female SAMP8 Mice: A Preliminary Study |
title_short | Differential Epigenetic Changes in the Dorsal Hippocampus of Male and Female SAMP8 Mice: A Preliminary Study |
title_sort | differential epigenetic changes in the dorsal hippocampus of male and female samp8 mice a preliminary study |
topic | aging Alzheimer’s disease SAMP8 mice histone post-translational modifications sex difference |
url | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/17/13084 |
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