Early mechanisms of pathobiology are revealed by transcriptional temporal dynamics in hippocampal CA1 neurons of prion infected mice.

ABSTRACT: Prion diseases typically have long pre-clinical incubation periods during which time the infectious prion particle and infectivity steadily propagate in the brain. Abnormal neuritic sprouting and synaptic deficits are apparent during pre-clinical disease, however, gross neuronal loss is not detected until the onset of the clinical phase. The molecular events that accompany early neuronal damage and ultimately conclude with neuronal death remain obscure. In this study, we used laser capture microdissection to isolate hippocampal CA1 neurons and determined their pre-clinical transcriptional response during infection. We found that gene expression within these neurons is dynamic and characterized by distinct phases of activity. We found that a major cluster of genes is altered during pre-clin

SUBMITTER: Majer A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3493483 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature