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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Preparation of Acute Hippocampal Slices from Rats and Transgenic Mice for the Study of Synaptic Alterations during Aging and Amyloid Pathology
Published on: March 23, 2011
Modulation of gamma-actin and alpha 1-tubulin expression by corticosterone during neuronal plasticity in the
J Poirier1, D Dea, A Baccichet
1Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Verdun, Que, Canada.
Abstract:
Evidence is given for altered gene expression of gamma-actin in the hippocampus in response to entorhinal cortex lesion (ECL). Time course analysis reveals a progressive repression of gamma-actin expression between 4 and 14 days post-lesion, coinciding with the early and middle phases of the hippocampal reinnervation process. RNA prevalence returns to near control values at 30 days post-lesion. Corticosterone administration, which is known to impair the reinnervation process in ECL rats, prevents the lesion-induced reduction in gamma-actin expression and blocks the induction of alpha 1-tubulin in the deafferented hippocampus. The timing of response of gamma-actin to ECL and its modulation by glucocorticoid administration support suggestions that gamma-actin has an important role to play in neuronal cytoarchitecture remodelling during hippocampal reinnervation.

