Methamphetamine-induced gene expression profiles in the striatum of male rat pups exposed to the drug in utero

Methamphetamine is a neurotoxic pychostimulant which affects monoaminergic and non-monoaminergic systems in the brain. Clinical studies in humans have found that exposure to methamphetamine in the developing embryo can cause significant behavioral and cognitive anomalies later in life. Exposure of a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain research. Developmental brain research 2003-12, Vol.147 (1), p.153-162
Main Authors: Noailles, Pierre-Antoine H., Becker, Kevin G., Wood, William H., Teichberg, Diane, Cadet, Jean-Lud
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Animals, Newborn - physiology
Central Nervous System Stimulants - pharmacology
Cluster Analysis
Development
DNA, Complementary - biosynthesis
DNA, Complementary - genetics
Female
Gene expression
Gene Expression - drug effects
Male
METH
Methamphetamine - pharmacology
Microarray
Neostriatum - drug effects
Neostriatum - metabolism
Neurogenesis
Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
Pregnancy
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
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Summary:Methamphetamine is a neurotoxic pychostimulant which affects monoaminergic and non-monoaminergic systems in the brain. Clinical studies in humans have found that exposure to methamphetamine in the developing embryo can cause significant behavioral and cognitive anomalies later in life. Exposure of animals to methamphetamine (METH) in utero can cause neurobehavioral effects that do not become apparent until young adulthood. In the present study, we sought to determine the effects of in utero METH exposure on the striata of perinatal rat pups using a recently developed 17 k cDNA microarray. We found that METH administration caused alterations in 913 genes according to strict criteria. These alterations include changes in genes that participate in signal transduction, heat shock responses and neuronal development. The majority of the changes in gene expression were more prominent at the 7-day time point. These observations suggest that in utero METH exposure might initiate molecular programs that significantly impact gene expression during the developmental period long after the last exposure to this drug. Thus, during development, METH exposure in utero might cause significant long-term changes in gene expression that might constitute, in part, some of the substrates for the behavioral and cognitive anomalies reported in the literature.
ISSN:0165-3806
DOI:10.1016/j.devbrainres.2003.11.003