The dendritically targeted protein Dendrin is induced by acute nicotine in cortical regions of adolescent rat brain
1. Terri L. Schochet1, 2. Quentin Z. Bremer2, 3. Mark S. Brownfield3, 4. Ann E. Kelley2 and 5. Charles F. Landry2
Article first published online: 28 OCT 2008
DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2008.06483.x
© The Authors (2008). Journal Compilation © Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd
European Journal of Neuroscience
Volume 28, Issue 10, pages 1967–1979, November 2008
Schochet, T. L., Bremer, Q. Z., Brownfield, M. S., Kelley, A. E. and Landry, C. F. (2008), The dendritically targeted protein Dendrin is induced by acute nicotine in cortical regions of adolescent rat brain. European Journal of Neuroscience, 28: 1967–1979. doi: 10.1111/j.1460- 9568.2008.06483.x
Author Information
Neuroscience Training Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 7225 Medical Sciences Center, Madison, WI 53706, USA Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6001 Research Park Boulevard, Madison, WI 53719, USA
Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015 Linden, Madison, WI 53706, USA
*Dr C. F. Landry, as above. E-mail: [email protected]
Publication History
1. Issue published online: 12 NOV 2008 2. Article first published online: 28 OCT 2008 3. Received 10 February 2008, revised 16 August 2008, accepted 4 September 2008 Abstract
The response of the brain to addictive substances such as nicotine includes the rapid induction of genes that influence synaptic events. This response is different in adolescent brain, which continues to undergo synaptic remodeling in regions that include reward-associated corticolimbic areas. We report here that acute nicotine (0.4 mg/kg), but not cocaine or exposure to a novel environment, induces the expression of the dendritically targeted, corticolimbic mRNA Dendrin in specific regions of adolescent brain. Acute nicotine resulted in an increase in Dendrin mRNA levels in the adolescent prefrontal cortex that was not evident in adult animals. The induction in Dendrin mRNA was a rapid, short-lived transcriptional event that resulted in changes in Dendrin protein. For example, an increase in Dendrin protein levels following nicotine treatment paralleled enhanced Dendrin immunoreactivity in the dendrites of pyramidal neurons of somatosensory cortex. As Dendrin is an important component of cytoskeletal modifications at the synapse, these results suggest that nicotine influences unique plasticity-related changes in the adolescent forebrain that differ from the adult.