The time course of activity-regulated cytoskeletal (ARC) gene and protein expression in the whisker-barrel circuit using two paradigms of whisker stimulation.

ABSTRACT: Immediate early genes have previously demonstrated a rapid increase in gene expression after various behavioral paradigms. The main focus of this article is to identify a molecular marker of circuit activation after manual whisker stimulation or exploration of a novel environment. To this end, we investigated the dynamics of ARC transcription in adult male rats during whisker somatosensation throughout the whisker barrel circuit. At various time points, tissue was biopsied from the ventral posterior medial nucleus (VPM) of the thalamus, primary somatosensory barrel field (S1BF) cortex and hippocampus for quantification using real-time PCR and western blot. Our results show that there were no significant differences in ARC gene or protein expression in the VPM after both types of stimulatio

SUBMITTER: Khodadad A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5574192 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature