Adverse gestational environment configures a subpopulation of ventral dentate granule cells for recruitment to drive innate anxiety

An adverse gestational environment is a risk factor for the development of psychiatric disorders. Although studies have implicated modifications in neuronal DNA and chromatin, how these changes come about and lead to abnormal behaviors is not known. We sought to identify persistent DNA/chromatin and transcriptomic signatures induced by a proinflammatory gestational environment in the ventral dentate gyrus (vDG), a hippocampal region linked to anxiety. A proinflammatory environment shifted DNA methylation of enhancers and promoters and altered synapse-related gene expression, resulting in transcriptional heterogeneity in the vDG. In animals with prior adversity, exposure to a threatening environment recruited vDG neurons with the greatest transcriptional changes, notably in synapse-relevant genes that also tended to be differentially methylated. Finally, vDG activity was increased during transition from a safe to a threatening environment in animals with prior adversity but not in controls, suggesting their enhanced perception of a potential threat. Our data outline a proinflammatory gestational environment-induced neurobiological sequence that leads to anxiety.