Localization of mRNA for protein phosphatase 2A in the brain of adult rats.

The gene expression for alpha and beta isoforms of type 2A protein phosphatase (PP2A-alpha and -beta) in the adult rat brain was examined by in situ hybridization analysis. No marked difference in the gene expression was discerned between the two isoforms in large portions of brain, except for the thalami in which the expression level for the alpha isoform was similar to that in the cerebral neocortex whereas that for the beta was lower than that in the neocortex. The gene expression was observed intensely in the piriform cortex, the cerebellar Purkinje and granule cell layers, and the hippocampal pyramidal and dentate granule cell layers, and the locus ceruleus, whereas the moderate levels of its expression were observed in the olfactory mitral cells and the pontine nuclei. The cerebral neocortex expressed the mRNA moderately to weakly without any laminar patterns, whereas the expression level in the caudate-putamen was very low. This expression pattern is basically similar to that of PP2C reported previously, except for the plexus choroideus and ependyma having no significant expression for PP2A.