Prenatal nicotine alters vigilance states and AchR gene expression in the neonatal rat: implications for SIDS.

Maternal smoking is a major risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The mechanisms by which cigarette smoke predisposes infants to SIDS are not known. We examined the effects of prenatal nicotine exposure on sleep/wake ontogenesis and central cholinergic receptor gene expression in the neonatal rat.

Gene expression in the brain across the hibernation cycle.

The purpose of this study was to characterize changes in gene expression in the brain of a seasonal hibernator, the golden-mantled ground squirrel, Spermophilus lateralis, during the hibernation season. Very little information is available on molecular changes that correlate with hibernation state, and what has been done focused mainly on seasonal changes in peripheral tissues. We produced over 4000 reverse transcription-PCR products from euthermic and hibernating brain and compared them using differential display.

alpha 2-Macroglobulin gene expression during hibernation in ground squirrels is independent of acute phase response.

alpha 2-Macroglobulin, a major acute phase reactant in many species, increases in the Richardson's ground squirrel (Spermophilus richarsonii) during hibernation at the level of both mRNA and protein. To determine if the pattern of liver gene expression known as the acute phase response is elicited as a normal part of the physiological adaptation of hibernation, acute phase reactants were identified in the Richardson's ground squirrel and were then assayed for changes in mRNA expression in the livers of active and hibernating ground squirrels. Our data demonstrate that alpha 1-antitrypsin, alpha 2-macroglobulin, ceruloplasmin, C-reactive protein, and serum amyloid A are acute phase reactants in the Richardson's ground squirrel.

Central role for differential gene expression in mammalian hibernation.

Mammalian hibernators experience dramatic reductions in body temperature, metabolic rate, respiratory rate, and heart rate during hibernation. These changes are precisely controlled and reversible with only internally driven mechanisms, suggesting specific biochemical regulation. We present a model that integrates our observations of differential liver gene expression during preparation for, and maintenance of, the hibernating state, with the known phylogenetic interspersion of hibernating species in several major mammalian lineages.