Identification of transcriptionally regulated genes in response to cellular iron availability in rat hippocampus

The present study was attempted to identify transcriptionally regulated genes of the normal neurocytes responsive to iron availability. Postnatal rat hippocampus cells were primarily cultured either under the iron-loaded or depleted conditions. These cultured cells were applied for the generation of subtracted complementary DNA libraries by the suppression subtraction hybridization (SSH) and for the subsequent identification of differentially expressed transcripts by reverse Northern blot. The differentially expressed genes were chosen to perform sequencing, and then some of them were performed by Northern blot analysis for observation of their expression in the hippocampus of rats with the different iron status. The results indicated that five unique transcripts were strong candidates for differential expression in cellular iron repletion, one of them is a novel sequence (GenBank No. AF 433878), while 26 unique transcripts were strong candidates for differential expression in cellular iron deprivation, one of them is a novel sequence (GenBank No. AY 912101). The revealed known genes responsive to iron availability were previously unknown to respond to iron availability, or have not been determined in the brain, have not even been currently determined in their physiological and biological functions. Interestingly, the proteins encoded by most of the known genes are either directly pointed to or indirectly associated with the molecules that play important, even key roles in cellular signal transduction and the cell cycle. These findings lead to the important suggestion that the cellular responses to iron availability involve extensive transcriptional regulation and cellular signal transduction. Therefore, iron may serve as a signal, which directly and/or indirectly regulates or modulates cell functions.