N. Kobayashiiwata et al., NEUROTENSIN TRANSCRIPTION IS OPPOSITELY REGULATED DURING DEVELOPMENT AND REGENERATION, NeuroReport, 5(13), 1994, pp. 1589-1592
OUR previous work demonstrated that neurotensin mRNA expression was tr
ansiently up-regulated during development in the hypoglossal motoneuro
ne. The present study was carried out to examine how neurotensin mRNA
expression changes during nerve regeneration. Following either unilate
ral resection or crushing of the hypoglossal nerve, mRNA expression wa
s detected by non-radioactive in situ hybridization histochemistry usi
ng an alkaline phosphatase-labelled oligonucleotide probe. A reduction
in neurotensin mRNA was observed on the operated side after the nerve
injury. It took around 2 months for NT mRNA levels to return to norma
l. Similar down-regulation was observed following crushing, but recove
ry was more rapid than that observed with sectioning, probably due to
the extent of nerve damage. This finding indicates that neurotensin tr
anscription is up-regulated during development but, on the contrary, d
own-regulated during regeneration.