Aberrant neuron-OPC synaptic transmission and deficient myelination define sex bias in major depressive disorder

Abstract

Sex bias is a notable feature of major depressive disorder (MDD), yet its cellular and molecular origins remain unclear. We integrated computational analyses of human patient data with histological and biochemical validation in animal models to uncover female-specific MDD pathways. We identified female-specific mechanisms involving oligodendroglial lineage cells, especially oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), as key signal receivers with unidirectional preference in interactome networks. The neurexin (NRXN) pathway emerged as the most perturbed in MDD, with greater disruption in females. Subclustering further identified committed OPCs (cOPCs) as a disease-associated oligodendroglial subpopulation characterized by high expression of synaptic genes; cOPCs were also enriched of MDD-related transcriptional signatures revealed by trajectory analysis. High-dimensional weighted gene co-expression network analysis identified GABRG3 as an MDD-specific hub gene in cOPCs. The GABRG3 was also involved in the NRXN synaptic assembly cascade. Using Gabrg3 conditional knockout mice, we validated findings in patients and demonstrated that conditional deletion of Gabrg3 in cOPCs recapitulates MDD-like phenotypes, highlighting impaired neuron-cOPC synaptic communication, abnormal myelination, and depression-like behaviors. Together, our work defines a sex-specific cellular and molecular pathobiology of MDD, bridges clinical discovery with preclinical context, and provides a translatable framework for precision medicine targeting fundamental sex differences.