Convulsant-Induced Increase in Transcription Factor Messenger RNAs in Rat Brain

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 85; no. 20; pp. 7795 - 7799
• Main Authors: Saffen, David W., Cole, Andrew J., Worley, Paul F., Christy, Barbara A., Ryder, Kevin, Baraban, Jay M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 01.10.1988; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Animals; Autoradiography; Biological and medical sciences; Blotting, Northern; Brain; Brain - drug effects; Brain - metabolism; Cell growth; Convulsants - pharmacology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Regulation - drug effects; Genes; In situ hybridization; Male; Messenger RNA; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Neurons; Neurons - analysis; Nucleic Acid Hybridization; Pentylenetetrazole - pharmacology; Picrotoxin - pharmacology; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; RNA probes; RNA, Messenger - biosynthesis; Seizures; Transcription factors; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription. Transcription factor. Splicing. Rna processing; Brain; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Messenger RNA; Rat; Induction; Rodentia
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.85.20.7795

Administration of the convulsants pentylenetetrazole (Metrazole) or picrotoxin to rats caused a dramatic increase in mRNAs of four putative transcription factor genes, zif/268, c-jun, jun-B, and c-fos, in neurons of the hippocampus and dentate gyrus, as well as other areas of the cerebral cortex, including pyriform cortex and cingulate cortex. The increase in these mRNAs was rapid and transient: amounts peaked within 1 hr and returned to baseline within 2 hr. These results extend the observation made by Morgan et al. [Morgan, J. I., Cohen, D. R., Hempstead, J. L. & Curran, T. (1987) Science 237, 192-197] that c-fos mRNA and protein are induced in rat brain after seizures. We hypothesize that the increase of these putative transcription factor mRNAs in the brain is part of a programmed genomic response of neurons to intense stimulation, which is analogous to the genomic response of nonneuronal cells to growth factors.