In order to better assess the relationship of gene expression relevant to parental germline THC in each sex, we explored pairwise dorsal striatal mRNA level associations in adult offspring separately for the treatment groups (Fig. 3). Males failed to show a strong THC-related alteration in correlation patterns except for a few associations with the Dlg4 gene (for example, in animals with VEH history: Dlg4-Gria1: r=0.46, p=0.25; Dlg4-Gria2: r=0.24, p=0.57; and in animals with THC history: Dlg4-Gria1: r=0.82, p=0.023; Dlg4-Gria2: r=0.79, p=0.0.034). In females, a larger number of genes showed strong relationships in association with parental germline THC exposure, particularly for Dlgap3 and Cnr1 genes (Cnr1-Grin2A: r=0.87, p=0.039; Cnr1-Grin2B, r=0.72, p=0.009; Cnr1-Gria1, r=0.69, p=0.007; Cnr1-Gria2, r=0.74, p=0.006; Cnr1-Dlg4, r=0.79, p=0.002; Cnr1-Dlgap3, r=0.66, p=0.003). Altogether, these results suggest that cross-generational THC exposure enhances the association between the expression of genes related to synaptic plasticity to a greater extent in females than males.
