ABSTRACT
We analyzed the expression of transcription factor c-Fos induced by neural activity in the mouse brain after acoustic stimulation. The brain sections of the animals subjected to acoustic stimulation and controls were immunohistochemically stained for c-Fos protein. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) was used to identify group differences in the acquired images. c-Fos expression was significantly higher in the auditory cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus CA3 area after tone presentation. The proposed combination of SPM with molecular-biological approach to visualization of transcription in the nerve cells makes it possible to identify the collaborative activation of distant brain structures assumed to be the components of united functional systems.
Subject(s)
Acoustic Stimulation , Amygdala/metabolism , Auditory Cortex/metabolism , Hippocampus/metabolism , Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos/metabolism , Animals , Brain/metabolism , Brain Mapping , Gene Expression , Male , Mice , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Neurons/metabolism , Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos/geneticsABSTRACT
Possible mechanisms of recovery of the memory impaired during consolidation process were investigated. In mice, amnesia was induced by intraperitoneal cycloheximide (100 mg/kg) administration 20 min before exposure to tone signal combined with footshock (2 sec, 0.5 mA). Reminder by the footshock (2 sec, 0.5 mA) 24 h after the learning procedure resulted in recovery of impaired memory in amnestic animals up to the level of control animals. Analysis of c-Fos expression in response to reminder indicated increased number of c-Fos-positive cells in prelimbic cortex in the animals with unaffected memory in comparison with corresponding parameter in amnestic animals. These findings are indicative of impairment in prelimbic cortex activity in experimental amnesia as well as for reminder ability to recover the memory impaired in that way.
Subject(s)
Amnesia/physiopathology , Prefrontal Cortex/metabolism , Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos/metabolism , Recovery of Function/physiology , Acoustic Stimulation , Animals , Cycloheximide/administration & dosage , Cycloheximide/toxicity , Electric Stimulation , Immunohistochemistry , Injections, Intraperitoneal , Male , Mice , Mice, Inbred C57BLABSTRACT
We developed a method to detect and superimpose neuronal populations involved in two different episodes of activity in the brain of single animal. This method is based on usage of two transcriptional factors with different accumulation curves, c-Fos and pCREB, as the markers. The overlap of neuronal populations involved in performance of spatial and nonspatial tasks in Morris water maze has been shown to occur at "chance" level.
