Cortistatin and somatostatin mRNAs are differentially regulated in response to kainate

Cortistatin (CST) is a presumptive neuropeptide that shares 11 of its 14 amino acids with somatostatin (SST). CST and SST are expressed in partially overlapping but distinct populations of cortical interneurons. In the hippocampal formation, most CST-positive cells are also positive for SST. In contrast to SST, administration of CST into the rat brain ventricles reduces locomotor activity and specifically enhances slow wave sleep. Intracerebroventricular injection of CST or SST has been shown to protect against the neurotoxic effects of kainic acid. Here, we show that CST and SST mRNAs respond differently to kainate-induced seizures. Furthermore, comparison of the upstream sequences from the CST and SST precursor genes reveal that they contain binding motifs for different transcriptional regulatory factors. Our data demonstrate that CST and SST, which are often co-expressed in the same neurons, are regulated by different stimuli.