Gene expression data from activity dependent genes in post mitotic-neurons

Neurons express numerous genes in response to environmental stimuli. This activity-dependent transcription is vital for neurons to function and hence for the brain to exert its complex processes. Post translational modifications of core histones have been implicated in the regulation of neuronal activity-dependent transcription. On the other hand, transcription and repair also involves the exchange of core histones, which regulates histone metabolism, but its involvement in neural activity-dependent transcription is currently well unknown. Here, in mature postmitotic neurons derived from mouse hippocampus, a Hist1h3f gene, which encodes replication-dependent histone H3.2, is expressed upon stimulation to glutamine receptors. Salt extraction and metabolic labeling of newly synthesized proteins in neurons revealed that core histone proteins are increased at protein levels in response to glutamine receptor stimulation. These results suggest that newly synthesized replication-dependent histone play a role in post-mitotic neurons. We performed microarrays to investigte the global transcriptional profiles of activity-dependent gene expression and identified two class of up-regulated genes during this process. Using Affymetrix Mouse Gene ST 1.0 array, we compared global gene expression profiles among of four time points; 0 min, 30 min, 180 min, and 300 min with bicuculline stimulation.