Faculty Collaboration Database

Microarray analysis reveals distinctive signaling between the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, nucleus accumbens, and dorsal striatum. Physiol Genomics 2008 Feb 19;32(3):283-98

Date

10/04/2007

Pubmed ID

17911379

DOI

10.1152/physiolgenomics.00224.2006

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-40149099354 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   18 Citations

Abstract

To identify distinct transcriptional patterns between the major subcortical dopamine targets commonly studied in addiction we studied differences in gene expression between the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), nucleus accumbens (NAc), and dorsal striatum (dStr) using microarray analysis. We first tested for differences in expression of genes encoding transcripts for common neurotransmitter systems as well as calcium binding proteins routinely used in neuroanatomical delineation of brain regions. This a priori method revealed differential expression of corticotropin releasing hormone (Crh), the GABA transporter (Slc6a1), and prodynorphin (Pdyn) mRNAs as well as several others. Using a gene ontology tool, functional scoring analysis, and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis, we further identified several physiological pathways that were distinct among these brain regions. These two different analyses both identified calcium signaling, G-coupled protein receptor signaling, and adenylate cyclase-related signaling as significantly different among the BNST, NAc, and dStr. These types of signaling pathways play important roles in, amongst other things, synaptic plasticity. Investigation of differential gene expression revealed several instances that may provide insight into reported differences in synaptic plasticity between these brain regions. The results support other studies suggesting that crucial pathways involved in neurotransmission are distinct among the BNST, NAc, and dStr and provide insight into the potential use of pharmacological agents that may target region-specific signaling pathways. Furthermore, these studies provide a framework for future mouse-mouse comparisons of transcriptional profiles after behavioral/pharmacological manipulation.

Author List

Olsen CM, Huang Y, Goodwin S, Ciobanu DC, Lu L, Sutter TR, Winder DG

Author

Christopher M. Olsen PhD Professor in the Pharmacology and Toxicology department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Animals
Corpus Striatum
Databases, Factual
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene Regulatory Networks
Genes, Reporter
Green Fluorescent Proteins
Male
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Nerve Tissue Proteins
Neural Pathways
Neuronal Plasticity
Neurotransmitter Agents
Neurotransmitter Transport Proteins
Nucleus Accumbens
Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
Receptors, Neurotransmitter
Septal Nuclei
Signal Transduction
Synaptic Transmission
Transcription, Genetic