Stimulus-specific expression of inducible transcription factors in identified oxytocin neurones

The activation of the magnocellular oxytocin system by different physiological stimuli will require specific genomic responses that may or may not reflect the electrical and short-term secretory activity of the neurones. One of the main determinants of synthetic activity is the rate of transcription and this can be altered acutely by the action of inducible transcription factors (iTFs). Having shown that the expression of two iTFs, the protein products of the c-fos and c-jun genes, does not correlate directly to the electrical activity of magnocellular neurones (Luckman et al., 1994) the expression of leucine zipper iTF mRNAs was measured following different stimuli using combined radioactive and non-radioactive in situ hybridization. Stimuli that are dependent on brainstem afferents such as parturition and systemic injection of cholecystokinin caused co-induction of c-fos and c-jun in oxytocin neurones. Mild osmotic stimulation, a stimulus dependent on forebrain afferents, induced c-fos, fos B and jun B, but inhibited c-jun. Similar patterns of leucine zipper iTF expression have been noted in cultured cells following activation of protein kinases C and A, respectively. Input from the brainstem appears to be mediated, at least in part, by noradrenaline acting on alpha(1)-adrenoceptors. While the forebrain inputs are not well characterised they do appear to include a glutaminergic component that may activate a variety of receptors. Interestingly, another member of the leucine zipper family known to be induced by protein kinase A, inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER), that was previously thought to be restricted to the pineal gland, was expressed in magnocellular neurones following osmotic stimulation but not parturition. Furthermore, the differential expression of iTFs is not limited to this family. Osmotic stimulation influences c-fos, but it also causes the expression of NGFI-A and NGFI-B, members of the zinc finger family of iTFs. By contrast, an acute suckling stimulus is able to induce c-fos and NGFI-A, but not nGFI-B.