title: Expression of the alpha 1, alpha 2 and alpha 3 isoforms of the GABAA receptor in human alcoholic brain.
abstract: The expression of the alpha 1, alpha 2 and alpha 3 isoforms of the GABAA receptor was studied in the superior frontal and motor cortices of 10 control, 10 uncomplicated alcoholic and 7 cirrhotic alcoholic cases matched for age and post-mortem delay. The assay was based on competitive RT/PCR using a single set of primers specific to the alpha class of isoform mRNA species, and was normalized against a synthetic cRNA internal standard. The assay was shown to be quantitative for all three isoform mRNA species. Neither the patient's age nor the post-mortem interval significantly affected the expression of any isoform in either cortical area. The profile of expression was shown to be significantly different between the case groups, particularly because alpha 1 expression was raised in both groups of alcoholics of controls. The two groups of alcoholics could be differentiated on the basis of regional variations in alpha 1 expression. In frontal cortex, alpha 1 mRNA expression was significantly increased when uncomplicated alcoholics were compared with control cases whereas alcoholic-cirrhotic cases were not significantly different from either controls or uncomplicated alcoholic cases. In the motor cortex, alpha 1 expression was elevated only when alcoholic-cirrhotic cases were compared with control cases. There was no significant difference between case groups or areas for any other isoform.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Laboratory, Royal Brisbane Hospital Research Foundation, Griffith University, Australia.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lewohl
authors.forename: D I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Crane
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Dodd
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000378:metabolism*; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D017931:DNA Primers; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007536:Isomerism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D012015:Reference Standards
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A