Entorhinal Cortex Lesions Transiently Alter Glucocorticoid but Not Mineralocorticoid Receptor Gene Expression in the Rat Hippocampus

Abstract

Entorhinal cortex lesions destroy an important hippocampal input and lead to axonal sprouting in the dentate gyrus. Glucocorticoids are known to inhibit this reinnervation process. In the present study, we examined changes in hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) mRNA expression using in situ hybridization following unilateral entorhinal cortex lesioning (ECL) in the rat. As early as 1 day postlesioning, a 33% bilateral decrease in GR mRNA expression was observed in the dentate gyrus. By contrast, a 36% bilateral increase in GR mRNA expression was detected in the CA1 cell field. GR mRNA levels in both regions returned to those of control animals 2 days postlesioning, indicating that these effects were transient. Adjacent sections hybridized with probes to MR mRNA revealed no changes in hippocampal MR gene expression as a result of ECL. The selective decrease in GR mRNA expression observed in the dentate gyrus following ECL is specific to the hippocampal subregion targeted for reactive synaptogenesis and thus may serve to attenuate the inhibitory actions of circulating glucocorticoids.