Journal: Cells

Article Title: Dendrimer-Conjugated Glutamine Antagonist, D-TTM020, Ameliorates Brain Immune Dysregulation and Improves Neurobehavioral Deficits in the Mecp2- Deficient Mouse Model

doi: 10.3390/cells15030272

Figure Lengend Snippet: D-TTM020 restores contextual fear memory in Mecp2 het mice. ( A ) Fear-conditioning paradigm, ( B ) contextual fear memory. D-TTM020-treated hets rescued conditioned fear memory to baseline levels. ( C ) Fear extinction test (Cue response). D-TTM020 improved contextual fear memory and cue response in Mecp2 hets versus saline and free TTM020. *** p < 0.001, ** p < 0.01, * p < 0.05 in comparison to the saline-treated hets. Data is represented as mean ± SD. n = 9–13/group.

Article Snippet: Contextual fear conditioning: On day 1, the mice were introduced to a fear-conditioning arena (10.75′′ × 9.97′′ × 11.25′′; Med Associates, St. Albans, VT, USA) and allowed to habituate for two minutes.

Techniques: Saline, Comparison

Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: Astrocytic RNA degradation suppresses calcium signaling to support synapse function and restrain anxiety

doi: 10.1101/2025.11.18.689044

Figure Lengend Snippet: ( A ) Open field beam breaks display no differences in locomotion amongst CTRL and cKO animals (CTRL: 3892 ± 271; cKO: 4076 ± 239, n = 22 mice per group, p = 0.61, Unpaired t -test). ( B ) Upf2 cKO mice show reduced time in open arms of elevated plus maze indicating anxiety-like behavior (CTRL: 38.5 ± 3.9; cKO: 23.09 ± 2.6, n = 31 mice per group, p = 0.0036, Unpaired t -test). ( C ) Astrocytic Upf2 loss is associated with reduced marble burying (CTRL: 16.3 ± 0.6, n = 22 mice; cKO: 13.0 ± 0.8, n = 23 mice, p = 0.0003, Mann-Whitney test). ( D ) Contextual fear conditioning paradigm revealed differences in contextual memory on Day 2 between CTRL and cKO animals (CTRL: 68.3 ± 3, n = 29 mice; cKO: 77.6 ± 3, n = 24 mice, p = 0.02, Mann-Whitney test). No differences were detected on Day 1 and Day 3 (Day 1: Baseline vs. UC-CS pairings, CTRL vs. cKO, p > 0.59, Sidak’s multiple comparisons test; Day 3: CTRL vs. cKO, p = 0.69, Unpaired t -test). Assessment of baseline freezing revealed Upf2 cKO mice show significant elevation on Day 2 and Day 3 as compared to CTRL (Day 1: CTRL: 1.8 ± 0.6; cKO: 6.1 ± 2.1, p = 0.43, Mann-Whitney test. Day 2: CTRL: 12.4 ± 0.8; cKO: 14.6 ± 0.7, p = 0.048, Unpaired t -test. Day 3: CTRL: 21.2 ± 3.6; cKO: 34.9 ± 4.5, p = 0.03, Mann-Whitney test. CTRL: n = 29 mice, cKO: n = 24 mice). Data are presented as mean ± S.E.M. * denotes p < 0.05, ** denotes p < 0.01, *** denotes p < 0.005, ns = not significant. This figure illustrates that astrocytic UPF2 depletion is associated with avoidance behavior and increased baseline freezing.

Article Snippet: Contextual Fear Conditioning : Fear Conditioning chambers (Med Associates Inc.) comprise standard grid-floored chambers that are enclosed within a sound-attenuated cubicle.

Techniques: MANN-WHITNEY

Journal: Redox Biology

Article Title: Oxidatively damaged DNA in DNA repair-deficient and ethanol-exposed fetal brains induces gene dysregulation and mitochondrial dysfunction associated with neurodevelopmental disorders

doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2025.103856

Figure Lengend Snippet: Female Ogg1 KO mice showed enhanced OGG1-and/or EtOH-dependent freezing behaviour and/or reduced passive avoidance performance . (A) Schematic of the fear-conditioning paradigm conducted over 2 days. Fear memory behaviour was tested using contextual and conditioned stimulus cues. Audio, visual and olfactory cues were changed based on testing the context vs. auditory conditioned cue fear memory retrieval. Further details are provided in the Methods. (B) The saline-exposed Ogg1 KO vs. WT female progeny displayed increased freezing time in the novel context control test (p < 0.01) and auditory cue retrieval test (p < 0.05), which was not seen in the respective males, indicating a sex effect. With prenatal EtOH exposure, female Ogg1 KO vs. WT female progeny displayed increased freezing time in the auditory cue test (p < 0.05), and similar but non-significant increases in the context retrieval and novel context control tests, which again were not seen in the respective males, indicating a sex effect. Progeny were selected from at least 3 different litters, and the number of mice tested in each group is indicated in parentheses. Statistical significance was determined by 2-way ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc tests (∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01).

Article Snippet: Mice were tested using a cued and contextual fear conditioning system (Ugo Basile, 46000), and video recordings were analyzed with ANYmaze software (V7.1, Stoelting Co.).

Techniques: Saline, Control