Early life stress triggers sustained changes in histone deacetylase expression and histone H4 modifications that alter responsiveness to adolescent antidepressant treatment

Early life stress can elicit long-lasting changes in gene expression and behavior. Recent studies on rodents suggest that these lasting effects depend on the genetic background. Whether epigenetic factors also play a role remains to be investigated. Here we exposed the stress-susceptible mouse strain Balb/c and the more resilient strain C57Bl/6 to a powerful early life stress paradigm, infant maternal separation. In Balb/c mice, infant maternal separation led to decreased expression of mRNA encoding the histone deacetylases (HDACs) 1, 3, 7, 8, and 10 in the forebrain neocortex in adulthood, an effect accompanied by increased expression of acetylated histone H4 proteins, especially acetylated H4K12 protein. These changes in HDAC expression and histone modifications were not detected in C57Bl/6 mice exposed to early life stress. Moreover, a reversal of the H4K12 hyperacetylation detected in infant maternally separated Balb/c mice (achieved with chronic adolescent treatment with a low dose of theophylline that only activates HDACs) worsened the abnormal emotional phenotype resulting from this early life stress exposure. In contrast, fluoxetine, a drug with potent antidepressant efficacy in infant maternally separated Balb/c mice, potentiated all histone modifications triggered by early life stress. Moreover, in non-stressed Balb/c mice, co-administration of an HDAC inhibitor and fluoxetine, but not fluoxetine alone, elicited antidepressant effects and also triggered changes in histone H4 expression that were similar to those provoked by fluoxetine treatment of mice exposed to early life stress. These results suggest that Balb/c mice develop epigenetic modifications after early life stress exposure that, in terms of the emotive phenotype, are of adaptive nature, and that enhance the efficacy of antidepressant drugs.