Regulation of opioid gene expression: a model to understand neural plasticity

The recent finding that neurotransmitters and drugs that affect neurotransmission have important influences on gene expression suggests that drug-induced alterations in gene expression may underlie many long-term effects of addictive drugs, for example, dependence and drug-seeking behaviors. These long-term adaptive responses to opiate drugs have been particularly difficult to understand at a mechanistic level. Data presented here indicate that the gene encoding the opioid precursor proenkephalin is highly regulated by neural activity, second-messenger pathways, and PKA. These observations raise the possibility that drugs of abuse (e.g., opiates acting through opiate receptors) may act at the genetic level to modulate the expression of endogenous opiates and that these effects may underlie one component of the brain's long-term adaptive response to exogenous opiates. The transgenic animals described above can be used to investigate opiate drug-induced changes in proenkephalin gene expression, allowing rapid analysis of changes in proenkephalin gene expression in highly restricted populations of neurons in a fashion previously impossible. In addition, by analyzing the effects of specific enhancer mutations on tissue-specific and transsynaptic regulation of proenkephalin expression, transgenic models will permit mechanistic investigations within the intact nervous system that cannot otherwise be undertaken. Investigation of mechanisms underlying this process requires the analysis of intracellular signaling pathways, responsive DNA regulatory elements, and the transcription factors transducing synaptic signals into gene regulation. In the studies described herein, we demonstrate that AP-1 complexes consisting of different Jun proteins differentially regulate proenkephalin transcription at the CRE-2 element. c-Jun constitutively activates proenkephalin transcription, whereas JunD activates in a fashion completely dependent on the activation of second-messenger pathways and the cAMP-dependent PKA. JunB alone has no effect on proenkephalin gene expression, yet this molecule effectively blocks activation mediated by JunD and, hence, may act as a repressor. These data are consistent with a model (figure 4) in which preexisting JunD mediates the rapid cAMP-dependent activation of the proenkephalin enhancer, whereas IEGs such as JunB or c-Fos mediate the protein synthesis-dependent inactivation. Because c-Jun activates proenkephalin transcription constitutively, induction of c-Jun may lead to a further and prolonged activation of proenkephalin gene expression. Hence, the ratio of c-Jun to JunB induction may determine whether proenkephalin is repressed or further activated.