Abstract
Phosphorylation of CREB transcription factor and expression of the immediate early gene c-fos in the brains of vertebrates play a key role in the molecular genetic mechanisms of long-term neuronal plasticity. The present study identifies the conditions for immunohistochemical detection of pCREB and c-Fos in the nervous system of the mollusk Helix lucorum (Pulmonata: Stylommatophora); activation of these transcription factors was demonstrated after administration of the convulsive agent pentylenetetrazole. Basal pCREB and c-Fos levels in the central nervous system of intact animals were low. Injection of pentylenetetrazole at a dose of 600 mg/kg evoked characteristic stereotypical motor responses, along with sharp reductions in the phosphorylation of CREB1 and expression of the immediate early gene c-fos, this also occurring in identified neurons. Double immunofluorescent labeling of pCREB and c-Fos showed that expression of c-Fos transcription factor was seen only in pCREB-immunoreactive neurons. These data provide evidence that activation of pCREB and c-Fos transcription factors can be used as molecular markers for mapping the processes of neuronal plasticity in the nervous systems of mollusks.
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Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 56, No. 6, pp. 801–804, November–December, 2006.
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Efimova, O.I., Ierusalimskii, V.N., Anokhin, K.V. et al. Immunohistochemical detection of the activation of CREB and c-Fos transcription factors in the nervous system of the terrestrial snail induced by pentylenetetrazole. Neurosci Behav Physiol 37, 853–856 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-007-0092-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-007-0092-6