Long-term, cell type-specific effects of prenatal stress on dorsal striatum and relevant behaviors in mice

Maternal stress during pregnancy, or prenatal stress, is a risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In ASD, dorsal striatum displays abnormalities correlating with symptom severity, but there is a gap in knowledge about dorsal striatal cellular and molecular mechanisms that may contribute. Using a mouse model, we investigated how prenatal stress impacted striatal-dependent behavior in adult offspring. We observed enhanced motor learning and earlier response times on an interval timing task, with accompanying changes in time-related medium spiny neuron (MSN) activity. We performed adult dorsal striatal single-cell RNA sequencing following prenatal stress which revealed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in multiple cell types; downregulated DEGs were enriched for ribosome and translational pathways consistently in MSN subtypes, microglia, and somatostatin neurons. DEGs in MSN subtypes over-represented ASD risk genes and were enriched for synapse-related processes. These results provide insights into striatal alterations relevant to neurodevelopmental disorders.