Proteomic Analysis of the Maternal Preoptic Area in Rats.

Proteomic Analysis of the Maternal Preoptic Area in Rats. Neurochem Res. 2019 Mar 07;: Authors: Udvari EB, Völgyi K, Kékesi KA, Simon D, Hunyadi-Gulyás É, Dobolyi A Abstract The behavior of female rats changes profoundly as they become mothers. The brain region that plays a central role in this regulation is the preoptic area, and lesions in this area eliminates maternal behaviors in rodents. The molecular background of the behavioral changes has not been established yet; therefore, in the present study, we applied proteomics to compare protein level changes associated with maternal care in the rat preoptic area. Using 2-dimensional fluorescence gel electrophoresis followed by identification of altered spots with mass spectrometry, 12 proteins were found to be significantly increased, and 6 proteins showed a significantly reduced level in mothers. These results show some similarities with a previous proteomics study of the maternal medial prefrontal cortex and genomics approaches applied to the preoptic area. Gene ontological analysis suggested that most altered proteins are involved in glucose metabolism and neuroplasticity. These proteins may support the maintenance of increased neuronal activity in the preoptic area, and morphological changes in preoptic neuronal circuits are known to take place in mothers. An increase in the level of alpha-crystallin B chain (Cryab) was confirmed by Western blotting. This small heat shock pro...
Source: Neurochemical Research - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Neurochem Res Source Type: research