title: Distribution of alpha 2-adrenergic receptor mRNAs in the rat CNS.
abstract: alpha 2-Adrenergic receptors (ARs) are involved in central nervous system (CNS) control of blood pressure. It is now known that there are three human genes that encode subtypes of alpha 2-ARs, but little is known regarding the distribution of these subtypes throughout the CNS. The availability of receptor clones allows the mapping of mRNAs encoding the individual alpha 2-AR subtypes in the CNS. In this communication, we report that there are three, closely related rat alpha 2-AR genes. We have developed subtype-specific hybridization probes from each of these genes and have used these reagents to measure alpha 2-AR subtype mRNA accumulation in extracts of discrete regions of the rat CNS. We found that mRNAs encoding the alpha 2A-AR and alpha 2C-AR subtypes are distributed widely, but unevenly, throughout the rat CNS. The A subtype is prominent in the midbrain, brainstem, spinal cord, pituitary and diencephalon while the C subtype predominates in basal ganglia and cerebellum. The cortex, olfactory bulb and hippocampus contain roughly equal amounts of the alpha 2A- and alpha 2C-AR mRNAs. A third subtype's (alpha 2B-AR) mRNA is far less abundant in brain tissues, and is only found in the diencephalon.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville 22908.
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Lynch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D009928:Organ Specificity; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011942:Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha / Q000235:genetics*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011942:Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha; D004247:DNA