title: Cytoskeletal genes regulation by chronic morphine treatment in rat striatum.
abstract: It has been previously suggested that morphine can regulate the expression and function of some proteins of the cytoskeleton. In the present study, we used real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction to examine the effects of chronic morphine administration, in rat striatum, on 14 proteins involved in microtubule polymerization and stabilization, intracellular trafficking, and serving as markers of neuronal growth and degeneration. Chronic morphine treatment led to modulation of the mRNA level of seven of the 14 genes tested. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (Gfap) and activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc) mRNA were upregulated, while growth associated protein (Gap43), clathrin heavy chain (Cltc), alpha-tubulin, Tau, and stathmin were downregulated. In order to determine if the regulation of an mRNA correlates with a modulation of the expression of the corresponding protein, immunoblot analyses were performed. With the exception of Gap43, the levels of Cltc, Gfap, Tau, stathmin, and alpha-tubulin proteins were found to be in good agreement with those from mRNA quantification. These results demonstrate that neuroadaptation to chronic morphine administration in rat striatum implies modifications of the expression pattern of several genes and proteins of the cytoskeleton and cytoskeleton-associated components.
authors.affiliation: Departement de Pharmacochimie Moleculaire et Structurale, Universite Rene Descartes-Paris V, Paris, France. marie@pharmacie.univ-paris5.fr
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marie-Claire
authors.forename: Cindie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Courtin
authors.forename: Bernard P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Roques
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Noble
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western / Q000379:methods; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D009020:Morphine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009294:Narcotics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D009294:Narcotics; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D009020:Morphine