PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Yan G. Ni
AU  - Stephen J. Gold
AU  - Philip A. Iredale
AU  - Rose Z. Terwilliger
AU  - Ronald S. Duman
AU  - Eric J. Nestler
TI  - Region-Specific Regulation of RGS4 (Regulator of G-Protein–Signaling Protein Type 4) in Brain by Stress and Glucocorticoids: <em>In Vivo</em> and <em>In Vitro</em>Studies
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.19-10-03674.1999
DP  - 1999 May 15
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 3674--3680
VI  - 19
IP  - 10
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/19/10/3674.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/19/10/3674.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.1999 May 15; 19
AB  - The present study demonstrates that the regulator of G-protein–signaling protein type 4 (RGS4) is differentially regulated in the locus coeruleus (LC) and the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus by chronic stress and glucocorticoid treatments. Acute or chronic administration of corticosterone to adult rats decreased RGS4 mRNA levels in the PVN but increased these levels in the LC. Similarly, chronic unpredictable stress decreased RGS4 mRNA levels in the PVN but had a strong trend to increase these levels in the LC. Chronic stress also decreased RGS4 mRNA levels in the pituitary. The molecular mechanisms of RGS4 mRNA regulation were further investigated in vitro in the LC-like CATH.a cell line and the neuroendocrine AtT20 cell line using the synthetic corticosterone analog dexamethasone. Consistent with the findingsin vivo, dexamethasone treatment caused a dose- and time-dependent decrease in RGS4 mRNA levels in AtT20 cells but a dose- and time-dependent increase in CATH.a cells. RGS4 mRNA regulation seen in these two cell lines seems to be attributable, at least in part, to opposite changes in mRNA stability. The differential regulation of RGS4 expression in the LC and in key relays of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis could contribute to the brain’s region-specific and long-term adaptations to stress.