Expression of the mRNA for the β2 subunit of the voltage-dependent sodium channel in rat CNS

• Published in: The European journal of neuroscience Vol. 10; no. 9; pp. 2757 - 2767
• Main Authors: Levy-Mozziconacci, Annie, Alcaraz, Gisèle, Giraud, Pierre, Boudier, Jeanne-Andrée, Caillol, Ghislaine, Couraud, François, Autillo-Touati, Amapola
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.09.1998
• Subjects: glial cells; in situ hybridization; Northern blot
• ISSN: 0953-816X; 1460-9568
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1460-9568.1998.00283.x

Expression of the voltage‐dependent sodium channel has been analysed in adult rat central nervous system by Northern blotting and in situ hybridization. Northern blots showed that all the territories studied express β2 transcripts, albeit with widely varying levels (with cerebellum >> hippocampus > brain > brainstem > spinal cord). In situ hybridization confirmed that in these structures, all the neuronal cell bodies contain β2 mRNA; expression was particularly high in the granule cells of the cerebellum, in both pyramidal cell layer and dentate gyrus in the hippocampus, and in spinal cord motor neurons. Northern blots also showed that RNA extracted from optic nerve and cultured cortical astrocytes contained β2 mRNA, while it was totally absent from sciatic nerve.In situ hybridization evidenced the presence of a numerous population of β2‐positive cells in cerebellum white matter, spinal cord white matter, and in corpus callosum, where frontal sections showed labelled cells arranged in the chain‐like or row pattern typical of interfascicular oligodendrocytes. Combination of antiglial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) immunofluorescent histochemistry with detection of β2 mRNA evidenced that expression of the transcripts was indeed restricted to GFAP‐negative cells in white matter.