Fig. 6
Perinatal alterations in St8sia2: amygdala-specific St8sia2 knock down causes abnormal aggression, while stress induces a decrease in St8sia2 expression. a Protocol for in vivo transfection at postnatal day 2 (P2) to induce temporal and spatial restricted St8sia2 silencing and behavioral characterization (EPM elevated plus maze, SP social preference, RI resident-intruder). b GFP-positive cells are visible 2 days after local injection in the amygdala of control (Ct) and St8sia2-silencing shRNA plasmids (sh). Scale bar, 100 μm. c Quantification of mRNA levels of St8sia2 and Polysialic acid (PolySia) at P4 in the amygdala of Ct and sh animals (unpaired t-test: t8 = 8.24, p = 0.0004 for mRNA; t8 = 2.15, p = 0.05 for PolySia). d mRNA quantification of GluN2B and GluN2A at P4 in the amygdala (unpaired t-test: t5 = 3.622, p = 0.0152 for GluN2B). e, f Behavioral characterization of adult animals silenced during early development. e Abnormal aggressive behaviors assessed by resident-intruder test in Ct and sh animals (middle, Mann–Whitney test, U = 6, p = 0.016). f Fear conditioning in Ct and sh animals, including training (left, two-way ANOVA: main effect of tone, F2,30 = 56.42, p < 0.0001) and tone test (right, two-way ANOVA: main effect of genotype, F1,15 = 19.97, p = 0.0005). g Prenatal stress (PNS) protocol. h Effect of PNS on St8sia2, St8sia4 and NCAM mRNA expression (unpaired t-test, t11 = 2.23, p = 0.04 for St8sia2) at embryonic day 18 (E18). i GluN2B and GluN2A mRNA levels measured in control (Ct) and stress group (left, unpaired t-test, t10 = 2.69, p = 0.023) and correlation between St8sia2 levels and GluN2B expression (linear regression, p = 0.071). (Control group: mothers N = 2, embryos n = 6; stress group: mothers N = 2, embryos n = 7). Results are given as mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.001 vs. control
