Columbia University

René Hen

Kenji Tanaka

Christine Ann Denny

Rebecca Anne Brachman

Methods for prophylactically treating a stress-induced affective disorder or stress-induced psychopathology in a subject are provided. Also provided are methods for inducing and/or enhancing stress resilience in a subject. In certain embodiments, an effective amount, of an antagonist of the glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, such as ketamine, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or derivative thereof, is administered to a subject prior to a stressor.

Pharmacological prophylactics against stress-induced affective disorders and their associated symptoms

Disclosed is a FAST (Flexible Accelerated STOP TetO-knockin) system, an efficient method for manipulating gene expression in vivo to rapidly screen animal models of disease. This invention further discloses a single gene targeting event yielding 2 distinct knockin mice&#x2014;STOP-tetO and tetO knockin&#x2014;which permit generation of multiple strains with variable expression patterns: 1) knockout, 2) Cre-mediated rescue; 3) tTA-mediated misexpression; 4) tTA-mediated overexpression; and 5) tTS-mediated conditional knockout/knockdown. Using the FAST system, multiple gain- and loss-of-function strains can therefore be generated on a timescale not previously achievable. These strains can then be screened for clinically-relevant abnormalities. The flexibility and broad applicability of the FAST system is demonstrated by targeting several genes encoding proteins implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders: Mlc1, Neuroligin 3, the serotonin 1A receptor, and the serotonin 1B receptor.

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Tenafly, NJ, United States of America

René Hen