Early life adversity shapes social subordination and cell type–specific transcriptomic patterning in the ventral hippocampus

Aron Kos, Juan Pablo Lopez, Joeri Bordes, Carlo de Donno, Julien Dine, Elena Brivio, Stoyo Karamihalev, Malte D. Luecken, Suellen Almeida-Correa, Serena Gasperoni, Alec Dick, Lucas Miranda, Maren Büttner, Rainer Stoffel, Cornelia Flachskamm, Fabian J. Theis, Mathias V. Schmidt, Alon Chen
Sci. Adv.. 2023-12-01; 9(48):
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj3793

PubMed
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Adverse events in early life can modulate the response to additional stressors later in life and increase the risk of developing psychiatric disorders. The underlying molecular mechanisms responsible for these effects remain unclear. Here, we uncover that early life adversity (ELA) in mice leads to social subordination. Using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), we identified cell type–specific changes in the transcriptional state of glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons in the ventral hippocampus of ELA mice after exposure to acute social stress in adulthood. These findings were reflected by an alteration in excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission induced by ELA in response to acute social stress. Finally, enhancing the inhibitory network function through transient diazepam treatment during an early developmental sensitive period reversed the ELA-induced social subordination. Collectively, this study significantly advances our understanding of the molecular, physiological, and behavioral alterations induced by ELA, uncovering a previously unknown cell type–specific vulnerability to ELA.

Auteurs Bordeaux Neurocampus