Novel odors affect gene expression for cytokines and proteinases in the rat amygdala and hippocampus.

ABSTRACT: Olfaction in rodents provides an excellent modality for the study of cellular mechanisms of information processing and storage, since a single occurrence of precisely timed stimuli has high survival value. We have followed up preliminary evidence of cytokine and proteinase involvement in normal (as opposed to pathologically-induced) brain plasticity by surveying for the presence of these factors in the olfactory circuitry of the rat. Genes for 25-30 common cytokines and their receptors, and over 30 cell matrix and adhesion molecules were found to be expressed across the olfactory bulb, insular cortex, amygdala, and dorsal hippocampus. We then measured by real-time PCR the transcriptional expression of seven of these genes following a one-time exposure to the novel odor of blueberry bars or

SUBMITTER: Irwin LN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3501538 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature