Research Article

Inhibition of ACE Retards Tau Hyperphosphorylation and Signs of Neuronal Degeneration in Aged Rats Subjected to Chronic Mild Stress

Figure 3

Whole genome microarray gene expression profiling detected stress-induced signs of hippocampal neurodegeneration. (a) and (b) Whole genome microarray gene expression profiling of hippocampal gene expression documents that stress promoted the significant downregulation of probe sets detecting neuron-specific genes with cytosolic localization (a) or membrane localization (b) according to GO analysis. All probe sets were significantly downregulated in the hippocampus of stressed rats relative to nonstressed controls ( and ≥2-fold difference). The heat map visualizes signal intensities (centered to the median value). (c) Immunohistological detection of Map2 in hippocampal CA1 neurons of a stressed rat (left panel) relative to a nonstressed control (right panel; bar: 20 μm). (d) Hippocampal Map2 expression level was determined by qRT-PCR and is presented as the ratio of Map2/Gapdh expression (±s.d.; ; ). (e) Hippocampal Gad activity of stressed rats relative to nonstressed controls (±s.d.; ; ). (f) The decreased hippocampal Grin3a protein level of a stressed rat (left panel) relative to that of a nonstressed control (right panel) was detected by immunohistology in hippocampal CA1 neurons; bar: 20 μm. Immunohistology data are representative of 4 rats/group ((c) and (f)).
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