Identification of differentially regulated genes in rat dorsal root ganglia after the treatment of artemin

摘要

Artemin is a glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) that supports survival of cultured sensory neurons. The trophic effect of artemin on sensory neurons and the restricted expression of artemin receptor GFR-alpha3 to nociceptive sensory neurons suggest that artemin might selectively impact the physiologic mechanisms that mediate changes associated with the neuropathic pain state or stimulate post-traumatic axonal growth. We have used an in vitro isolated dorsal root ganglia cells to study the effects of artemin on adult rat neuronal system and performed a microarray experiment. We found that 285 genes were differentially regulated by artemin for a 3-h treatment, including genes related to cell adhesion, transport activity and catalytic activity. A set of genes involved in regulation of actin dynamics including Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) interacting protein, cofilin and dynamin were downregulated by artemin, suggesting a previously undefined role in the regulation of synaptic vesicle movement. This transcriptional program initiated by artemin was functionally relevant to the synaptic vesicle exocytosis and reuptake. Artemin also downregulated the expression of genes related to cell adhesion, matrix assembly and cellular migration including biglycan, plectin, nestin, neuronatin and neuron-glia-CAM-related cell adhesion molecule, which might be relevant to axonal elongation and lamellipodia formation in DRG neuron.