[Abstract Title]. - Society for Neuroscience

and cognition in the adult brain. To evaluate the potential relationship between stress-induced
changes in reelin expression and cell maturation, we administered the stress hormone
corticosterone (CORT, 40 mg/kg, s.c.) or vehicle for 21 days to naïve male rats. Imipramine was
administered at a high (15 mg/kg, i.p.) or intermediate (10 mg/kg, i.p.) dose to some of the
CORT-treated rats to evaluate its protective effects. Immunohistochemistry revealed that animals
treated with CORT had significantly fewer reelin positive cells in the hilus and subgranular zone
of the hippocampus compared to all other groups. Analysis of the immature neuronal marker
doublecortin also indicated that there were fewer immature neurons in the subgranular zone in
groups receiving CORT alone or CORT + intermediate amounts of imipramine compared to rats
receiving CORT + a high dose of imipramine. Further analysis revealed that granule cells born
under conditions of stress had shorter apical dendrites and less complex dendritic arborizations,
and that these effects were reversed by the high dose of imipramine. In addition, rats treated with
CORT alone or CORT + intermediate amounts of imipramine showed abnormal numbers of
granule cells with basal dendrites. Finally, CORT treatment decreased nestin expression while
leaving GFAP untouched. Collectively, these results suggest that chronic stress may slow the
maturation of newly born cells, and that reelin may play an important role in this maturational
process.
Disclosures: E.Y. Fenton, None; N.M. Fournier, None; A.L. Lussier, None; H.J. Caruncho,
None; L.E. Kalynchuk, None.
Poster
282. Stress and the Brain: Cellular Actions of Stress
Time: Sunday, November 16, 2008, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Program#/Poster#: 282.9/OO16
Topic: E.06.d. Cellular actions of stress
Support: DA05014
NS39415
Title: Cyclic AMP-mediated stimulation of tyrosine hydroxylase mRNA translation is mediated
by polypyrimidine-rich sequences within its 3‟UTR and poly(C) binding protein 2 (PCBP2)
Authors: *L. XU, C. R. STERLING, A. W. TANK;
Pharmacol. & Physiol., Univ. of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Abstract: Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) catalyzes the first and rate-limiting step in the biosynthesis
of catecholamines. TH gene expression is tightly controlled by both transcriptional and post-