Inhibition of DNA Methylation Impairs Synaptic Plasticity during an Early Time Window in Rats

Figure 3

DNA methylation in the intergenic CpG island of the RLN gene. (a) Schematic representation of the location of the CpG island (solid box) relative to the transcription initiation site (TSS) [7]. (b) Hippocampal slices were exposed to 5AZA (25 μM) for one hour. Microdissected CA1 tissue was processed immediately after treatment. Representative agarose gel showing that the amount of methylated DNA was lower in the 5AZA-treated slices than in the vehicle-treated slices. (c) Quantification of the methylated RLN gene normalized to the level of tubulin in data such as that shown in (b). , , one-sample Mann-Whitney test. (d) Bisulfite-modified DNA sequencing of the RL gene. The bisulfite-modified DNA sequence (upper) and the unmodified genomic DNA sequence (lower) were compared. All potentially methylated CG sites are labeled with a black box. When the template was unmethylated, the cytosine residues in the bisulfite-modified DNA sequence (black arrowheads) were converted from C to T.

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