Response and recovery in the supraoptic nucleus of a desert adapted rodent under osmotic stress

Thesupraoptic nucleus (SON)isahypothalamicregionthatisessentialforoverseeingosmoregulationinmammals.VasopressinissynthesisedinthemagnocellularneuronsoftheSONbeforeaxonaltransporttotheposterior pituitaryforreleaseintosystemiccirculation.PreviousresearchhasinterrogatedtheSON transcriptomeofmodelrodentsduringtheosmoticstressofdehydration.Untilnow,thedesertrodentSONhasnotbeenexplored.Geneexpression(by RNAseq) wascomparedintheJerboaSONbetween(maleandfemale)animalsincontrol,dehydrated(10/11dayswaterrestriction),andrehydrated(7dayswaterrestrictionfollowedby3/4dayswateravailability)conditions. Animals were randomly assigned to three experimental groups: Control (access to water ad libitum), Dehydrated (water restriction 11 days), and Rehydration (water restriction 7 days followed by access to water ad libitum 3 days). Supraoptic nucleus tissue was extracted and sequenced.