Effects of social isolation and re-socialization on cognition and ADAR1 (p110) expression in mice

Wei Chen, Dong An, Hong Xu, Xiaoxin Cheng, Shiwei Wang, Weizhi Yu, Deqin Yu, Dan Zhao, Yiping Sun, Wuguo Deng, Yiyuan Tang, Shengming Yin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

It has been reported that social isolation stress could be a key factor that leads to cognitive deficit for both humans and rodent models. However, detailed mechanisms are not yet clear. ADAR1 (Adenosine deaminase acting on RNA) is an enzyme involved in RNA editing that has a close relation to cognitive function. We have hypothesized that social isolation stress may impact the expression of ADAR1 in the brain of mice with cognitive deficit. To test our hypothesis, we evaluated the cognition ability of mice isolated for different durations (2, 4, and 8 weeks) using object recognition and object location tests; we also measured ADAR1 expression in hippocampus and cortex using immunohistochemistry and western blot. Our study showed that social isolation stress induced spatial and non-spatial cognition deficits of the tested mice. In addition, social isolation significantly increased both the immunoreactivity and protein expression of ADAR1 (p110) in the hippocampus and frontal cortex. Furthermore, re-socialization could not only recover the cognition deficits, but also bring ADAR1 (p110) immunoreactivity of hippocampus and frontal cortex, as well as ADAR1 (p110) protein expression of hippocampus back to the normal level for the isolated mice in adolescence. In conclusion, social isolation stress significantly increases ADAR1 (p110) expression in the hippocampus and frontal cortex of the mice with cognitive deficit. This finding may open a window to better understand the reasons (e.g., epigenetic change) that are responsible for social isolation-induced cognitive deficit and help the development of novel therapies for the resulted diseases.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2306
JournalPeerJ
Volume2016
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016

Keywords

  • ADAR1
  • Cognitive ability
  • Social isolation

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