Dynamics of stress-induced c-fos expression in the rat prelimbic cortex : lessons from intronic and mature RNA and protein analyses
Molina Molina, Patricia (Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR))
Belda, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, de Fisiologia i d'Immunologia)
Beriain, Sandra (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, de Fisiologia i d'Immunologia)
Serrano, Sara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, de Fisiologia i d'Immunologia)
Compte, Gentzane (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Cel·lular, de Fisiologia i d'Immunologia)
Andero Galí, Raül (Universitat de Barcelona. Institut de Neurociències)
Armario Garcia, Antonio (Parc Taulí Hospital Universitari. Institut d'Investigació i Innovació Parc Taulí (I3PT))

Date:	2025
Abstract:	Despite the extensive use of c-fos as a marker of stress-induced neuronal activation, key aspects regarding its dynamics of expression remain poorly characterized. In the present study, we assessed in the prelimbic cortex of adult male rats the immediate transcriptional response of c-fos by measuring the heteronuclear (hn)RNA and mature (m)RNA expression by double fluorescent in situ hybridization as well as the c-Fos protein using immunofluorescence (FOS). We quantified in three different experiments the number of c-fos hnRNA+, mRNA+ and FOS+ neurons under basal conditions, immediately after different periods of immobilization stress (IMO), and after a recovery period. Our results indicate that stress induced a large increase in the number of positive neurons for all markers analyzed, each displaying a different time course. Moreover, our findings indicate that measuring the intensity of signal per neuron also provides relevant information. In addition, we report an increased number of FOS+ neurons after only 8-15 min of IMO, suggesting a surprisingly fast initiation of protein translation. Finally, the maturation from c-fos hnRNA+ to mRNA+ might depend on the duration and/or intensity of stress-induced activation. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of stress-induced c-fos expression and underscore the importance of examining multiple molecular components when using c-fos as a proxy of neuronal activation.
Grants:	Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte FPU16/05416 Agencia Estatal de Investigación SAF2017-83430-R Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2020-118844RB-I00 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2021/SGR-00158
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Immobilization stress ; Neuronal activation ; Prelimbic cortex ; Stress duration ; c-fos expression
Published in:	Neurobiology of Stress, Vol. 36 (may 2025) , p. 100729, ISSN 2352-2895

DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2025.100729
PMID: 40421146

10 p, 5.2 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Health sciences and biosciences > Parc Taulí Research and Innovation Institute (I3PT
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles