Intracisternal Gtf2i-gene therapy in CD mice using adeno-associated virus resulted in increased mGtf2i expression and normalization of Bdnf levels, along with beneficial effects in motor coordination, sociability, and anxiety, despite no significant changes in neuronal architecture.
These results demonstrate that sequence variation in the GTF2I gene influences the relationship between trait anxiety and brain response to aversive social cues in healthy individuals, supporting a role for this neurogenetic mechanism in anxiety.
Relative to mouse pups with one or two Gtf2i copies, pups with additional Gtf2i copies showed significantly increased maternal separation-induced anxiety as measured by ultrasonic vocalizations.