Published in

Society for Neuroscience, Journal of Neuroscience, 47(36), p. 11946-11958, 2016

DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0672-16.2016

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Negative Allosteric Modulation of mGluR5 Partially Corrects Pathophysiology in a Mouse Model of Rett Syndrome

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Rett syndrome (RTT) is caused by mutations in the gene encoding methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MECP2), an epigenetic regulator of mRNA transcription. Here, we report a test of the hypothesis of shared pathophysiology of RTT and fragile X, another monogenic cause of autism and intellectual disability. In fragile X, the loss of the mRNA translational repressor FMRP leads to exaggerated protein synthesis downstream of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5). We found that mGluR5- and protein-synthesis-dependent synaptic plasticity were similarly altered in area CA1 ofMecp2KO mice. CA1 pyramidal cell-type-specific, genome-wide profiling of ribosome-bound mRNAs was performed in wild-type andMecp2KO hippocampal CA1 neurons to reveal the MeCP2-regulated “translatome.” We found significant overlap between ribosome-bound transcripts overexpressed in theMecp2KO and FMRP mRNA targets. These tended to encode long genes that were functionally related to either cytoskeleton organization or the development of neuronal connectivity. In theFmr1KO mouse, chronic treatment with mGluR5-negative allosteric modulators (NAMs) has been shown to ameliorate many mutant phenotypes by correcting excessive protein synthesis. InMecp2KO mice, we found that mGluR5 NAM treatment significantly reduced the level of overexpressed ribosome-associated transcripts, particularly those that were also FMRP targets. Some Rett phenotypes were also ameliorated by treatment, most notably hippocampal cell size and lifespan. Together, these results suggest a potential mechanistic link between MeCP2-mediated transcription regulation and mGluR5/FMRP-mediated protein translation regulation through coregulation of a subset of genes relevant to synaptic functions.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTAltered regulation of synaptic protein synthesis has been hypothesized to contribute to the pathophysiology that underlies multiple forms of intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. Here, we show in a mouse model of Rett syndrome (Mecp2KO) that metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5)- and protein-synthesis-dependent synaptic plasticity are abnormal in the hippocampus. We found that a subset of ribosome-bound mRNAs was aberrantly upregulated in hippocampal CA1 neurons ofMecp2KO mice, that these significantly overlapped with FMRP direct targets and/or SFARI human autism genes, and that chronic treatment ofMecp2KO mice with an mGluR5-negative allosteric modulator tunes down upregulated ribosome-bound mRNAs and partially improves mutant mice phenotypes.