Glucocorticoid modulation of neurotrophin expression in immortalized mouse hippocampal neurons

Abstract

To see whether glucocorticoid hormones can influence the regulation of neurotrophin expression in hippocampal neurons, we have used reverse-transcription followed by polymerase chain reaction to investigate changes in the mRNA levels of nerve growth factor (NGF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) in immortalized hippocampal neurons after dexamethasone application. Our results show that NGF mRNA levels rise in both embryonic and postnatal neurons, but with different time courses, while NT-3 levels rise in the embryonic but not in the postnatally derived cell line. Modulation of NT expression by glucocorticoids may therefore be developmentally regulated.