Effect of brain-derived neurotrophic factor on activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein gene expression in primary frontal cortical neurons. Comparison with NMDA and AMPA

The effect of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) on activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc) mRNA levels in primary neuronal cultures of rat frontal cortex was characterized pharmacologically and compared to the effect on expression of c-fos, bdnf, neuritin, cox-2 as examples of other immediate early genes. BDNF induced a very strong increase (around 100 fold) in Arc mRNA and the maximal effect seen at 25 ng/ml. The effect was dose-dependent with EC50 around 1.6 ng/ml. The time profile revealed a significant effect after 25 min. BDNF also increased levels of c-Fos, neuritin and BDNF mRNA, but not COX-2 mRNA. The pharmacological profile of NMDA and AMPA-induced arc gene expression in frontal cortical neurons was compared to BDNF. NMDA and AMPA increased Arc mRNA but their maximal effect did not exceed 20-fold. The effect of AMPA was completely blocked by the NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801. Further, the relative amount of Arc mRNA compared to c-Fos mRNA was higher for BDNF, equal for NMDA and lower for AMPA. These results demonstrate BDNF to be a highly potent and efficient inducer of arc gene expression in vitro, emphasizing the role of this growth factor in synaptic plasticity in the frontal cortex.