Szu-Ying Yeh

Abstract Emerging evidence increasingly indicates that astrocytes are involved in neuropsychiatric disorders, including addiction, but the cocaine-induced astrocyte transcriptome has yet to be investigated. We performed RNA sequencing on whole-cell sorted astrocytes from the nucleus accumbens and bioinformatically characterized the astrocyte transcriptome following cocaine self-administration in male mice.

Abstract Neurobiological alterations seen in addiction amplify during abstinence and compromise relapse prevention. Cocaine use disorder (CUD) exemplifies this phenomenon in which reward regions such as nucleus accumbens (NAc) undergo withdrawal-associated modifications. While genome-wide transcriptional changes in NAc are linked to specific addiction phases, these have not been examined in a context- and NAc-subregion-specific manner during withdrawal vs. extinction.

Abstract Mast cells are innate immune cells that play a crucial role in numerous physiological processes across tissues by releasing pre-stored and newly synthesized mediators in response to stimuli, an activity largely driven by changes in gene expression. Given their widespread influence, dysfunction in mast cells can contribute to a variety of pathologies including allergies, long COVID, and autoimmune and neuroinflammatory disorders.