NEUROTRANSMISSION AND SIGNALLING-The Activity-Regulated Cytoskeletal-Associated Protein Arc Is Expressed in Different Striosome-Matrix Patterns Following Exposure to Amphetamine and Cocaine

摘要: The activity-regulated, cytoskeletal-associated gene, arc, is a brain-enriched immediate-early gene whose expression is rapidly induced in the striatum by dopamine receptor agonists. This rapid induction of arc in the striatum is similar to that of other early response genes such as c-fos, junB, DELTAfosB, fra, and NGFI-A, which code for transcription factors. Unlike these proteins, however, Arc is a cytoskeletal protein expressed not only in the nucleus of neurons but also in their dendrites. We investigated the patterns of Arc expression evoked in the rat striatum by acute exposures to two psychomotor stimulants, cocaine and amphetamine. Cocaine induced arc in striatal neurons that were broadly distributed within both striosome and matrix compartments of the caudoputamen. Amphetamine also evoked Arc expression in striatal projection neurons, but these were heavily concentrated in the striosomal compartment …