[Identification of vestibular compensation-associated molecules by means of differential display]

The differential display method was used to identify gene expression which is altered in the cerebellar flocculus after unilateral labyrinthectomy (UL). Total RNA from flocculi of sham-operated and labyrinthectomized rats was isolated, amplified by PCR using arbitrary primer sets and separated by electrophoresis on a polyacrylamide gel. PCR products, whose amounts were significantly different in samples from labyrinthectomized animals and those from controls, were cut out of the gel and sequenced. One of the up-regulated products was the rat protein phosphatase 2A beta catalytic subunit mRNA and one of the down-regulated products was the rat glutamate receptor delta-2 subunit mRNA. Histochemical examination of in situ hybridization showed that those molecules were intensively localized in the Purkinje cell layer. In labyrinthectomized rats, UL-induced nystagmus gradually disappeared within 3 days after UL. These findings suggest that changes in expression of those molecules in the floccular Purkinje cells after UL is involved in vestibular compensation. So far various kinds of neural plasticity-associated molecules have been investigated, mainly by slice-in vitro studies. This study indicates that differential display is a feasible molecular biological in vivo method for investigation of the mechanism of neural plasticity.