Barrel rotation evoked by intracerebroventricular injection of somatostatin and arginine-vasopressin is accompanied by the induction of c-fos gene expression in the granular cells of rat cerebellum.
Intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of somatostatin (SS) or arginine-vasopressin (AVP) elicits barrel rotation (BR) in rats. To identify the potential neuron structures involved in this characteristic behavior, the regional expression of the c-fos gene in rat brain after i.c.v. injection of SS (10 micrograms) or AVP (1 micrograms) was examined by hybridization histochemistry. The c-fos expression could serve as a marker of neuronal activity and/or neural transmission. Following SS-induced BR, c-fos gene expression was observed in the lingula, uvula, nodulus, simplex, centralis, and culmen of the cerebellum, while following AVP-induced BR, c-fos gene expression was observed in the first four of the above-mentioned regions of the cerebellum, but not in the centralis or culmen. In these regions, the c-fos mRNA signals were observed on the granular layer. Expression of the c-fos gene was immediately and transiently induced and was not observed in rats in which BR was not evoked after SS or AVP injection. In both control rats and SS- or AVP-injected rats, the c-fos gene expression was induced in the piriform cortex and the flocculus of the cerebellum. The findings suggest that BR is a manifestation of behavior induced by massive transsynaptic activation of the granular cells in the cerebellum.
Kamegai
J
J
Department of Medicine, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan.
Minami
S
S
Sugihara
H
H
Wakabayashi
I
I
D000818:Animals; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002375:Catalepsy / Q000139:chemically induced; D002525:Cerebellar Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D016762:Genes, fos; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D008297:Male; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012399:Rotation; D013004:Somatostatin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000139:chemically induced
D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D001127:Arginine Vasopressin; D013004:Somatostatin