Searching across hundreds of databases

Our searching services are busy right now. Your search will reload in five seconds.

X
Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your email here and get a temporary password sent to your email.

X
Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your email here and get a temporary password sent to your email.

Abnormal Microglia and Enhanced Inflammation-Related Gene Transcription in Mice with Conditional Deletion of Ctcf in Camk2a-Cre-Expressing Neurons.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience | 2018

CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) is an 11 zinc finger DNA-binding domain protein that regulates gene expression by modifying 3D chromatin structure. Human mutations in CTCF cause intellectual disability and autistic features. Knocking out Ctcf in mouse embryonic neurons is lethal by neonatal age, but the effects of CTCF deficiency in postnatal neurons are less well studied. We knocked out Ctcf postnatally in glutamatergic forebrain neurons under the control of Camk2a-Cre. CtcfloxP/loxP;Camk2a-Cre+ (Ctcf CKO) mice of both sexes were viable and exhibited profound deficits in spatial learning/memory, impaired motor coordination, and decreased sociability by 4 months of age. Ctcf CKO mice also had reduced dendritic spine density in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Microarray analysis of mRNA from Ctcf CKO mouse hippocampus identified increased transcription of inflammation-related genes linked to microglia. Separate microarray analysis of mRNA isolated specifically from Ctcf CKO mouse hippocampal neurons by ribosomal affinity purification identified upregulation of chemokine signaling genes, suggesting crosstalk between neurons and microglia in Ctcf CKO hippocampus. Finally, we found that microglia in Ctcf CKO mouse hippocampus had abnormal morphology by Sholl analysis and increased immunostaining for CD68, a marker of microglial activation. Our findings confirm that Ctcf KO in postnatal neurons causes a neurobehavioral phenotype in mice and provide novel evidence that CTCF depletion leads to overexpression of inflammation-related genes and microglial dysfunction.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) is a DNA-binding protein that organizes nuclear chromatin topology. Mutations in CTCF cause intellectual disability and autistic features in humans. CTCF deficiency in embryonic neurons is lethal in mice, but mice with postnatal CTCF depletion are less well studied. We find that mice lacking Ctcf in Camk2a-expressing neurons (Ctcf CKO mice) have spatial learning/memory deficits, impaired fine motor skills, subtly altered social interactions, and decreased dendritic spine density. We demonstrate that Ctcf CKO mice overexpress inflammation-related genes in the brain and have microglia with abnormal morphology that label positive for CD68, a marker of microglial activation. Our findings suggest that inflammation and dysfunctional neuron-microglia interactions are factors in the pathology of CTCF deficiency.

Pubmed ID: 29133437 RIS Download

Additional research tools detected in this publication

None found

Associated grants

  • Agency: NCRR NIH HHS, United States
    Id: S10 RR027552
  • Agency: NIA NIH HHS, United States
    Id: RF1 AG013730
  • Agency: NHLBI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: T32 HL007317
  • Agency: NINDS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 NS087632
  • Agency: NIA NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 AG013730
  • Agency: NCATS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: UL1 TR000448
  • Agency: NCI NIH HHS, United States
    Id: P30 CA091842
  • Agency: NICHD NIH HHS, United States
    Id: U54 HD087011
  • Agency: NCATS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: UL1 TR002345
  • Agency: NINDS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: T32 NS007205
  • Agency: NINDS NIH HHS, United States
    Id: K12 NS001690

Publication data is provided by the National Library of Medicine ® and PubMed ®. Data is retrieved from PubMed ® on a weekly schedule. For terms and conditions see the National Library of Medicine Terms and Conditions.

This is a list of tools and resources that we have found mentioned in this publication.


Anti-Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) (antibody)

RRID:AB_2109645

This polyclonal targets Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP)

View all literature mentions

FITC anti-mouse CD45 (antibody)

RRID:AB_312973

This monoclonal targets CD45

View all literature mentions

Purified anti-mouse CD16/32 (antibody)

RRID:AB_312801

This monoclonal targets CD16/32

View all literature mentions

S100 (antibody)

RRID:AB_10013383

This polyclonal targets S100 isolated from cow brain.

View all literature mentions

Cleaved Caspase-3 (Asp175) Antibody (antibody)

RRID:AB_2341188

This polyclonal targets Cleaved Caspase-3 (Asp175)

View all literature mentions

Ki67 Antigen (antibody)

RRID:AB_2314701

This polyclonal targets Ki67 Antigen

View all literature mentions

Anti Iba1, Rabbit antibody (antibody)

RRID:AB_839504

This polyclonal targets Iba1

View all literature mentions

Anti-NeuN (rabbit polyclonal), Alexa Fluor 488 Conjugate (antibody)

RRID:AB_10920751

This polyclonal targets NeuN (rabbit polyclonal) Alexa Fluor 488 Conjugate

View all literature mentions

GAPDH (D16H11) XP Rabbit mAb (antibody)

RRID:AB_10622025

This monoclonal targets GAPDH

View all literature mentions

CTCF Antibody (antibody)

RRID:AB_2086794

This polyclonal targets CTCF

View all literature mentions

Fiji (software resource)

RRID:SCR_002285

Software package as distribution of ImageJ and ImageJ2 together with Java, Java3D and plugins organized into coherent menu structure. Used to assist research in life sciences.

View all literature mentions

FlowJo (software resource)

RRID:SCR_008520

Software for single-cell flow cytometry analysis. Its functions include management, display, manipulation, analysis and publication of the data stream produced by flow and mass cytometers.

View all literature mentions

Enrichr (software resource)

RRID:SCR_001575

A web-based gene list enrichment analysis tool that provides various types of visualization summaries of collective functions of gene lists. It includes new gene-set libraries, an alternative approach to rank enriched terms, and various interactive visualization approaches to display enrichment results using the JavaScript library, Data Driven Documents (D3). The software can also be embedded into any tool that performs gene list analysis. System-wide profiling of genes and proteins in mammalian cells produce lists of differentially expressed genes / proteins that need to be further analyzed for their collective functions in order to extract new knowledge. Once unbiased lists of genes or proteins are generated from such experiments, these lists are used as input for computing enrichment with existing lists created from prior knowledge organized into gene-set libraries.

View all literature mentions

LIMMA (software resource)

RRID:SCR_010943

Software package for the analysis of gene expression microarray data, especially the use of linear models for analyzing designed experiments and the assessment of differential expression.

View all literature mentions

Bioconductor (software resource)

RRID:SCR_006442

Software repository for R packages related to analysis and comprehension of high throughput genomic data. Uses separate set of commands for installation of packages. Software project based on R programming language that provides tools for analysis and comprehension of high throughput genomic data.

View all literature mentions

ArrayExpress (catalog)

RRID:SCR_002964

International functional genomics data collection generated from microarray or next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms. Repository of functional genomics data supporting publications. Provides genes expression data for reuse to the research community where they can be queried and downloaded. Integrated with the Gene Expression Atlas and the sequence databases at the European Bioinformatics Institute. Contains a subset of curated and re-annotated Archive data which can be queried for individual gene expression under different biological conditions across experiments. Data collected to MIAME and MINSEQE standards. Data are submitted by users or are imported directly from the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus.

View all literature mentions

Agilent Feature Extraction Software (data processing software)

RRID:SCR_014963

Software that automatically reads and processes up to 100 raw microarray image files. The software finds and places microarray grids, rejects outlier pixels, accurately determines feature intensities and ratios, flags outlier pixels, and calculates statistical confidences.

View all literature mentions

GeneSys (software resource)

RRID:SCR_015770

Imaging software that works with G:BOX Chemi and PXi imaging systems to automatically or manually capture images. GeneSys also includes a database containing information about applications such as fluorescence, chemiluminescence and chemifluorescence.

View all literature mentions

ANY-maze (software resource)

RRID:SCR_014289

Video tracking system used to automate testing in a variety of behavioral apparatus. ANY-maze can automatically track the tail, head, or body of a test animal in up to 16 pieces of apparatus. The software can record live images or digital files with different camera types and save the data in multiple formats. ANY-maze contains built in statistical tests and standard measures for distance, speed, mobility, duration, etc.

View all literature mentions

B6.129P2(Cg)-Cx3cr1tm1Litt/J (organism)

RRID:IMSR_JAX:005582

Mus musculus with name B6.129P2(Cg)-Cx3cr1tm1Litt/J from IMSR.

View all literature mentions

B6N.129-Rpl22tm1.1Psam/J (organism)

RRID:IMSR_JAX:011029

Mus musculus with name B6N.129-Rpl22tm1.1Psam/J from IMSR.

View all literature mentions

B6.Cg-Tg(Thy1-YFP)HJrs/J (organism)

RRID:IMSR_JAX:003782

Mus musculus with name B6.Cg-Tg(Thy1-YFP)HJrs/J from IMSR.

View all literature mentions

B6.Cg-Gt(ROSA)26Sortm9(CAG-tdTomato)Hze/J (organism)

RRID:IMSR_JAX:007909

Mus musculus with name B6.Cg-Gt(ROSA)26Sortm9(CAG-tdTomato)Hze/J from IMSR.

View all literature mentions

B6.Cg-Tg(Camk2a-cre)T29-1Stl/J (organism)

RRID:IMSR_JAX:005359

Mus musculus with name B6.Cg-Tg(Camk2a-cre)T29-1Stl/J from IMSR.

View all literature mentions

Anti-Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) (antibody)

RRID:AB_2109645

This polyclonal targets Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP)

View all literature mentions

Fiji (software resource)

RRID:SCR_002285

Software package as distribution of ImageJ and ImageJ2 together with Java, Java3D and plugins organized into coherent menu structure. Used to assist research in life sciences.

View all literature mentions