GSE171977
Gene expression changes following chronic antipsychotic exposure in single cells from mouse striatum
Background. Schizophrenia is an idiopathic psychiatric disorder with a high degree of polygenicity. Evidence from genetics, single-cell, and pharmacological studies suggest an important overlap between genes involved in the etiology of schizophrenia and the cellular mechanisms of action of antipsychotics in medium spiny neurons (MSNs). Methods. We applied single-cell RNA-sequencing to striatal samples from C57BL/6J mice chronically exposed to a typical antipsychotic (haloperidol), an atypical antipsychotic (olanzapine), or placebo. We implemented careful statistical analyses to identify differentially expressed genes in two cell populations identified from the single-cell RNA-sequencing (MSNs and microglia) and applied multiple analysis pipelines to contextualize these findings. Results. Differential expression analysis showed that there was a larger share of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in MSNs from mice treated with olanzapine vs. haloperidol. DEGs were enriched in broad loci implicated by genetic studies of schizophrenia, and we highlighted nine genes with convergent evidence. Pathway analyses highlighted alternative splicing, mitochondrial function, and neuron and synapse development as particularly engaged by antipsychotics. In microglia, we identified pathways involved in microglial activation and inflammation as part of the antipsychotic response. Conclusions. Our goal was to evaluate connections between schizophrenia genetic findings and cellular gene expression changes following antipsychotic exposure. We found that differential gene expression in MSNs from mice chronically treated with olanzapine converges on similar pathways and gene sets.  Overall design: Radomized case/control.  Case1: 5 animals. Case2: 5 animals. Control: 5 animals.