Immediate early gene c-fos regulates the synthesis of phospholipids but not of gangliosides

✍ Scribed by M. E. Guido; G. A. de Arriba Zerpa; D. F. Bussolino; Dr. B. L. Caputto

• Book ID: 102911630
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 614 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0360-4012
• DOI: 10.1002/jnr.490430112

✦ Synopsis

Retinal ganglion cells isolated from chicks that in vivo were exposed to light have a higher phospholipid labeling capacity than those obtained from animals in the dark. Actinomycin D or a mixture of protein synthesis inhibitors or of antisense oligonucleotides to c-fos plus c-jun injected intraocularly 1 hr prior to the stimulation period, abolished the light-dark differences for phospholipids but not for gangliosides. Light stimulation induced the formation (and/or stabilization) of c-fos mRNA and of the protein C-FOS, indicating that immediate early gene induction, and consequently the synthesis of the protein(s) encoded, is essential to increase the synthesis of phospholipids but not of gangliosides. These results suggest a novel mechanism by which immediate early genes engram neural cells, modifying specifically the metabolism of cell constituents producing long-lasting changes in the cells.