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Dravet syndrome is a severe epileptic encephalopathy caused primarily by haploinsufficiency of the SCN1A gene. Repetitive seizures can lead to endurable and untreatable neurological deficits. Whether this severe pathology is reversible after symptom onset remains unknown. To address this question, we generated a Scn1a conditional knock-in mouse model (Scn1a  Stop/+ ) in which Scn1a expression can be re-activated on-demand during the mouse lifetime. Scn1a gene disruption leads to the development of seizures, often associated with sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) and behavioral alterations including hyperactivity, social interaction deficits and cognitive impairment starting from the second/third week of age. However, we showed that Scn1a gene re-activation when symptoms were already manifested (P30) led to a complete rescue of both spontaneous and thermic inducible seizures, marked amelioration of behavioral abnormalities and normalization of hippocampal fast-spiking interneuron firing. We also identified dramatic gene expression alterations, including those associated with astrogliosis in Dravet syndrome mice, that, accordingly, were rescued by Scn1a gene expression normalization at P30. Interestingly, regaining of Na v 1.1 physiological level rescued seizures also in adult Dravet syndrome mice (P90) after months of repetitive attacks. Overall, these findings represent a solid proof-of-concept highlighting that disease phenotype reversibility can be achieved when Scn1a gene activity is efficiently reconstituted in brain cells., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

During brain development, the small GTPases Rac1/Rac3 play key roles in neuronal migration, neuritogenesis, synaptic formation and plasticity, via control of actin cytoskeleton dynamic. Their activity is positively and negatively regulated by GEFs and GAPs molecules, respectively. However their in vivo roles are poorly known. The ArhGAP15 gene, coding for a Rac-specific GAP protein, is expressed in both excitatory and inhibitory neurons of the adult hippocampus, and its loss results in the hyperactivation of Rac1/Rac3. In the CA3 and dentate gyrus (DG) regions of the ArhGAP15 mutant hippocampus the CR+, PV+ and SST+ inhibitory neurons are reduced in number, due to reduced efficiency and directionality of their migration, while pyramidal neurons are unaffected. Loss of ArhGAP15 alters neuritogenesis and the balance between excitatory and inhibitory synapses, with a net functional result consisting in increased spike frequency and bursts, accompanied by poor synchronization. Thus, the loss of ArhGAP15 mainly impacts on interneuron-dependent inhibition. Adult ArhGAP15 -/- mice showed defective hippocampus-dependent functions such as working and associative memories. These findings indicate that a normal architecture and function of hippocampal inhibitory neurons is essential for higher hippocampal functions, and is exquisitely sensitive to ArhGAP15-dependent modulation of Rac1/Rac3.

The search for biomarkers of antidepressant effects focused on pathways regulating synaptic plasticity, and on activated inflammatory markers. Repeated Sleep Deprivation (SD) provides a model treatment to reverse-translate antidepressant effects from in vivo clinical psychiatry to model organisms. We studied the effects of repeated SD alone (ASD) or combined with exercise on a slow spinning wheel (SSW), in 116 C57BL/6J male mice divided in three groups (ASD, SSW, untreated). Forced Swimming Test (FST) was used to detect antidepressant-like effects. Unbiased evaluation of the transcriptional responses were obtained in the hippocampus by Illumina Bead Chip Array system, then confirmed with real time PCR. Spine densities in granular neurons of the dentate gyrus (DG) were assayed by standard Golgi staining. Activation of Microglial/Macrophages cells was evaluated by immunufluorescence analysis for Iba1. Rates of cell proliferation was estimated pulsing mice with the S-phase tracer 5-Iodo-2'-deoxyuridine (IdU). All SD procedures caused a decreasing of floating time at FST, and increased expression of the immediate early gene Arc/Arg3.1. In addition, SSW also increased expression of the Microglia/Macrophages genes Iba-1 and chemokine receptors Cx3cR1 and CxcR4, of the canonical Wnt signaling gene Wnt7a, and of dendritic spines in CA4 neurons of the DG. SSW up-regulated both the number of Iba1+ cells and rates of cell proliferation in the subgranular region of the DG. The antidepressant-like effects of SD dissociated both, from hippocampal neuroplasticity in the DG (not occurring after ASD), and from microglial activation (not preventing behavioral response when occurring). The increase in dendritic spine density in the DG after SD and exercise was associated with an up-regulation of Wnt 7a, and with activation of the innate immune system of the brain. Increased Arc/Arg3.1 suggests however increased neuroplasticity, which could be common to all fast-acting antidepressants, and possibly occurring in other brain areas., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Rac GTPases regulate the development of cortical/hippocampal GABAergic interneurons by affecting the early development and migration of GABAergic precursors. We have addressed the function of Rac1 and Rac3 proteins during the late maturation of hippocampal interneurons. We observed specific phenotypic differences between conditional Rac1 and full Rac3 knockout mice. Rac1 deletion caused greater generalized hyperactivity and cognitive impairment compared with Rac3 deletion. This phenotype matched with a more evident functional impairment of the inhibitory circuits in Rac1 mutants, showing higher excitability and reduced spontaneous inhibitory currents in the CA hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Morphological analysis confirmed a differential modification of the inhibitory circuits: deletion of either Rac caused a similar reduction of parvalbumin-positive inhibitory terminals in the pyramidal layer. Intriguingly, cannabinoid receptor-1-positive terminals were strongly increased only in the CA1 of Rac1-depleted mice. This increase may underlie the stronger electrophysiological defects in this mutant. Accordingly, incubation with an antagonist for cannabinoid receptors partially rescued the reduction of spontaneous inhibitory currents in the pyramidal cells of Rac1 mutants. Our results show that Rac1 and Rac3 have independent roles in the formation of GABAergic circuits, as highlighted by the differential effects of their deletion on the late maturation of specific populations of interneurons., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.)

In this paper we report the results of gene expression profiling of C57Bl/6N mice hippocampus after trace fear conditioning (TFC), and the identification of genes regulated at early and late steps after conditioning. Several of the genes regulated at early steps following TFC appeared common to many training protocols. At later stages (2 and 6 h), most of the genes identified were different from those identified following other learning paradigms resulting in memory consolidation. At 6 h after training, few genes were upregulated in respect to the naïve condition, suggesting that many gene products have eventually to be downregulated to achieve stable synapses modification and memory formation. In conclusion, the results presented highlight a number of genes whose expression is specifically modified in the mouse hippocampus following TFC and demonstrate the specificity associated to different forms of conditioning.