Induction of glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase gene expression during seizure and analgesia

Using mRNA differential display, we found that the gene for NAD(+)-dependent glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH; EC 1.1.1.8) is induced in rat brain following seizure activity. Northern blot and in situ hybridization analysis confirmed the differential display results; they also showed, in a separate model of neuronal activation, that after thermal noxious stimulation of the hind-paws, a similar increase in GPDH mRNA occurs in the areas of somatotopic projection in the lumbar spinal cord. Surprisingly, administration of analgesic doses of morphine or the nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs aspirin, metamizol (dipyrone), and indomethacin also increased GPDH mRNA levels in rat spinal cord. The opioid receptor antagonist naloxone completely blocked morphine induction of GPDH but had no effect on GPDH induction by noxious heat stimulation or metamizol treatment, implicating different mechanisms of GPDH induction. Nevertheless, in all cases, induction of the GPDH gene requires adrenal steroids and new protein synthesis, as the induction was blocked in adrenalectomized rats and by cycloheximide treatment, respectively. Our results suggest that the induction of the GPDH gene upon peripheral noxious stimulation is related to the endogenous response to pain as it is mimicked by exogenously applied analgesic drugs.