Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
Volume 18, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/ijnp/pyu032
Keywords
depression; DNA methylation; epigenetics; TET1
Funding
- Karolinska Institutet's Faculty Funds
- Swedish Research Council [2010-3631, 10414]
- Fredrik and Ingrid Thurings Foundation
- Stockholm County Council
- Karolinska Institutet
- Danish Medical Research Council
- Lundbeck foundation
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Background: Epigenetic drugs like sodium butyrate (NaB) show antidepressant-like effects in preclinical studies, but the exact molecular mechanisms of the antidepressant effects remain unknown. While research using NaB has mainly focused on its role as a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), there is also evidence that NaB affects DNA methylation. Methods: The purpose of this study was to examine NaB's putative antidepressant-like efficacy in relation to DNA methylation changes in the prefrontal cortex of an established genetic rat model of depression (the Flinders Sensitive Line [FSL]) and its controls (the Flinders Resistant Line). Results: The FSL rats had lower levels of ten-eleven translocation methylcytosine dioxygenase 1 (TET1), which catalyzes the conversion of DNA methylation to hydroxymethylation. As indicated by the behavioral despair test, chronic administration of NaB had antidepressant-like effects in the FSL and was accompanied by increased levels of TET1. The TET1 upregulation was also associated with an increase of hydroxymethylation and a decrease of methylation in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf), a gene associated with neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity. These epigenetic changes were associated with a corresponding BDNF overexpression. Conclusions: Our data support the antidepressant efficacy of HDACis and suggest that their epigenetic effects may also include DNA methylation changes that are mediated by demethylation-facilitating enzymes like TET1.
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