NGFI-B, c-fos, and c-jun mRNA expression in mouse brain after acute carbon monoxide intoxication

The expression of immediate early genes (IEG) has been documented in the brain after various kinds of insults such as ischemia and hypoxia. To determine whether acute carbon monoxide intoxication (ACOI) might trigger IEG expression, adult ddY mice were subjected to carbon monoxide exposure at a rate of 30 mL/min for 35 seconds. The levels of NGFI-B, c-fos, and c-jun mRNA were determined by Northern blot analysis. A time-course study in the cerebral cortex indicated that the induction of NGFI-B, c-fos, and c-jun mRNA started as early as 15 minutes, reached a peak at 30 minutes, and returned to the basal level at 1 hour after the ACOI. In addition, the temporal feature of the induction of these IEG mRNA in the hippocampus was very similar to that in the cerebral cortex. Examination of brain regions at 30 minutes after the ACOI revealed a significant induction of NGFI-B mRNA in the cerebellum, thalamus-hypothalamus, brainstem. as well as in the cortex and hippocampus, but not in the striatum or olfactory bulb. Furthermore, the neuroanatomical distribution of c-fos mRNA at 30 minutes after the ACOI was very similar to that of the NGFI-B mRNA. The widespread distribution of these IEG in the brain, especially in the cerebellum and brainstem, indicates that the major cause for the triggering of IEG expression in the brain by the ACOI might be a diffuse hypoxia. These findings show for the first time the temporal and spatial expression of IEG in the brain after ACOI.