Morgan J I, Curran T
Department of Neuroscience, Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, Roche Research Center, Nutley, NJ 07110.
Trends Pharmacol Sci. 1991 Sep;12(9):343-9. doi: 10.1016/0165-6147(91)90594-i.
Chemically and electrically induced seizures elicit the rapid transcriptional activation in neurons of a class of genes referred to as cellular immediate-early genes. Since the products of these genes include transcription factors and cytokines, they are proposed to be involved in coupling neuronal excitation to a complex, and poorly understood, programme of cellular responses that involves the regulation of gene expression. Products of two cellular immediate-early genes, c-fos and c-jun, are components of the transcription factor AP-1. In this review, Jim Morgan and Tom Curran discuss how these gene products have begun to reveal some of the molecular details of stimulus-transcription coupling in the nervous system following seizures. In addition, these genes have provided novel reagents and concepts for investigating the biochemical and cellular sequelae of seizure in the CNS, and point towards new avenues of research and potential therapeutic targets in epilepsy.
化学和电诱导的癫痫发作会引发一类被称为细胞即刻早期基因的神经元中的快速转录激活。由于这些基因的产物包括转录因子和细胞因子，因此有人提出它们参与将神经元兴奋与一个复杂且了解甚少的细胞反应程序相耦合，该程序涉及基因表达的调控。两个细胞即刻早期基因c-fos和c-jun的产物是转录因子AP-1的组成部分。在这篇综述中，吉姆·摩根和汤姆·柯伦讨论了这些基因产物如何开始揭示癫痫发作后神经系统中刺激-转录偶联的一些分子细节。此外，这些基因为研究中枢神经系统中癫痫发作的生化和细胞后遗症提供了新的试剂和概念，并指向癫痫研究的新途径和潜在治疗靶点。
