title: Effects of acute and chronic administration of MK-801 on c-Fos protein expression in mice brain regions implicated in schizophrenia with or without clozapine.
abstract: This study investigated the effects of acute and chronic administration of the non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonists MK-801 on c-Fos protein expression in different brain regions of mice with or without clozapine. MK-801 (0.6 mg/kg) acute administration produced a significant increase in the expression of c-Fos protein in the layers III-IV of posterior cingulate and retrosplenial (PC/RS) cortex, which was consistent with the previous reports. Moreover, we presented a new finding that MK-801 (0.6 mg/kg) chronic administration for 8 days produced a significant increase of c-Fos protein expression in the PC/RS cortex, prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hypothalamus of mice. Among that, c-Fos protein expression in the PC/RS cortex of mice was most significant. Compared to acute administration, we found that MK-801 chronic administration significantly increased the expression of c-Fos protein in the PC/RS cortex, PFC and hypothalamus. Furthermore, pretreatment of mice with clozapine significantly decreased the expression of c-Fos protein induced by MK-801 acute and chronic administration. These results suggest that c-Fos protein, the marker of neuronal activation, might play an important role in the chronic pathophysiological process of schizophrenic model induced by NMDA receptor antagonist.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Mailbox 41, Wenhua Road 103, Shenyang, 110016, China.
authors.forename: Dai-Ying
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Zuo
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hai-Feng
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ying-Liang
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000187:drug effects*; D003024:Clozapine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016291:Dizocilpine Maleate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects; D016762:Genes, fos / Q000187:drug effects*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D016291:Dizocilpine Maleate; D003024:Clozapine