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Nicotine increases diazepam binding inhibitor (DBI) mRNA in primary cultured neurons
M Katsura1, S Ohkuma, D T Chen
1Department of Pharmacology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan.
Abstract:
The effect of nicotine on the expression of diazepam binding inhibitor (DBI) mRNA in primary cultured cerebral cortical neurons was examined using Northern blot analysis. Nicotine exposure (0.001-10 microM) for 24 h increased the DBI mRNA level in a dose-dependent manner, whereas the beta-actin mRNA level showed no change. This effect of nicotine was faded out over 48 h of its exposure. Hexamethonium (100 microM) completely abolished the nicotine-induced increase in DBI mRNA expression. These results indicate that nicotine increases the expression of DBI mRNA in cerebral cortical neurons via the activation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.