Mack K J, Mack P A
Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53705.
Brain Res Mol Brain Res. 1992 Jan;12(1-3):141-7. doi: 10.1016/0169-328x(92)90077-o.
Immediate early response genes have been shown to be inducible in the central nervous system after a variety of stimuli. Induction of these transcription factors in cerebral cortex by a physiological stimulus had not previously been demonstrated. In this study, tactile stimuli induced multiple transcription factors in the somatosensory cortex. Adult male rats were lightly anesthetized with urethane. Tactile stimuli was delivered by a paint brush gently stroking an animals whiskers on one side of its face for a 15 min period. Two h later, the animals were sacrificed. Cortex contralateral to the stimulation was compared with ipsilateral cortex using antibodies raised against immediate early response gene products NGFI-A, NGFI-B, and c-fos. The different transcription factors showed slightly different patterns of response to the tactile stimulus. However, the induction of immunohistochemical staining was most prominent in layer 4 with all antibodies under study. This increase in the number of cell bodies stained was less robust than that seen in the somatosensory cortex after a seizure, and showed more of a predominance in layer 4 cells. These data demonstrate that physiologic stimulation can induce immediate early response genes in cortical cells, and that multiple immediate early response genes react to a stimulus.
即刻早期反应基因已被证明在受到多种刺激后可在中枢神经系统中被诱导表达。此前尚未证实生理刺激能在大脑皮层诱导这些转录因子。在本研究中，触觉刺激在体感皮层诱导了多种转录因子。成年雄性大鼠用乌拉坦轻度麻醉。通过用画笔轻轻刷动动物一侧面部的胡须15分钟来施加触觉刺激。两小时后，处死动物。使用针对即刻早期反应基因产物NGFI-A、NGFI-B和c-fos产生的抗体，将刺激对侧的皮层与同侧皮层进行比较。不同的转录因子对触觉刺激的反应模式略有不同。然而，在所研究的所有抗体中，免疫组化染色的诱导在第4层最为显著。染色细胞体数量的增加不如癫痫发作后在体感皮层中观察到的那样强烈，并且在第4层细胞中表现出更多的优势。这些数据表明，生理刺激可在皮层细胞中诱导即刻早期反应基因，并且多种即刻早期反应基因会对刺激做出反应。
