BK station mRNA term in the murine CNS
We first examined whether total BK, and splice variant, mRNA expression levels differed across distinct regions of the adult (postnatal day 35, P35) murine CNS. To compare the relative expression of total BK channel mRNA transcripts between different CNS regions of P35 mice all data were normalised to the expression of the housekeeping gene, ?-actin, in each region. Total BK channel mRNA expression was variable between different regions with the highest levels observed in frontal cortex and entorhinal cortex (Figure 1b). Regions with the lowest levels (< 50% of the level in entorhinal cortex) were cerebellum, medulla and posterior cortex. The spinal cord, midbrain, pons, thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, olfactory bulb and striatum displayed intermediate total BK mRNA levels (Figure 1b).
Differential expression of the STREX and ZERO BK channel splice variant mRNA was also observed across these tissues at P35. The relative proportion of STREX transcripts (expressed as a percentage of total BK mRNA in each CNS region) was low in all regions tested, with levels typically < 10% of total BK mRNA transcripts. However, even across tissues, the relative proportion of STREX transcripts was significantly different (p < 0.05, Kruskal Wallis test with post-hoc Dunn's test compared to entorhinal cortex) with frontal cortex, thalamus and entorhinal cortex displaying the highest proportion of STREX transcripts and the pons and cerebellum displaying the lowest levels (Figure 1c). The proportion of total BK channel transcripts expressing the ZERO variant also varied significantly across tissues. The entorhinal cortex displayed a significantly (p < 0.01, Kruskal Wallis test with post-hoc Dunn's test) greater proportion of ZERO transcripts compared to any other tissue, with 85.6 ± 9.7 % of total BK transcripts encoded by the ZERO variant. (Figure 1c). In the majority of CNS regions, the proportion of ZERO transcripts was greater than 50% of total BK mRNA transcripts with the notable exception of cerebellum, in which 4.5 ± 2.3 % of transcripts encoded for the ZERO variant (Figure 1c). Taken together, these data
Developmental controls of BK route mRNA splicing in the CNS
In order to investigate developmental changes in BK station mRNA expression in different areas of the fresh murine CNS, BK route mRNA expression is actually quantified within embryonic weeks thirteen, 15 and you may 18, and you can postnatal months 7 and thirty five. For every single cells, the complete BK channel mRNA expression at each developmental big date part try shown once the a portion of this from the P35. For each splice variation the definition of at every developmental go out point try expressed due to the fact a share of one’s complete BK station transcripts for the for every structure.
Buildings out of rhombencephalon, mesencephalon and you may spinal cord
From inside the spinal cord a little, but high, upsurge in overall BK station mRNA phrase was noticed from E13 as compared to P35 (Figure 2a). This was followed closely by a remarkable reduced