Environmental enrichment during adolescence regulates gene expression in the striatum of mice.
We have previously shown that environmental enrichment decreases the activating and rewarding effects of the psychostimulant cocaine and increases resistance to the neurotoxic effect of the Parkinson-inducing drug MPTP. These effects were accompanied by an increase in the striatal expression of the neurotrophin BDNF, an increase in the striatal levels of delta-Fos B and by a decrease in striatal levels of the dopamine transporter, the main molecular target for cocaine and MPTP. Here, we used cDNA arrays to investigate the effects of rearing mice in enriched environments from weaning to adulthood on the profile of expression of genes in the striatum focusing on genes involved in intracellular signalling and functioning. We found that mice reared in an enriched environment show several alterations in the levels of mRNA coding for proteins involved in cell proliferation, cell differentiation, signal transduction, transcription and translation, cell structure and metabolism. Several of these findings were further confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR and, in the case of protein kinase C lambda, also by western blot. These findings are the first description of alterations in striatal gene expression by an enriched environment. The striatal gene expression regulation by environment that we report here may play a role in the resistance to the effects of drugs of abuse and dopaminergic neurotoxins previously reported.
Thiriet
Nathalie
N
Institut de Biologie et Physiologie Cellulaires, University of Poitiers, 40 Avenue du Recteur Pineau, Poitiers, France.
Amar
Lahouari
L
Toussay
Xavier
X
Lardeux
Virginie
V
Ladenheim
Bruce
B
Becker
Kevin G
KG
Cadet
Jean Lud
JL
Solinas
Marcello
M
Jaber
Mohamed
M
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D004777:Environment; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / Q000379:methods; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
D012333:RNA, Messenger