The mGluR-dependent endocytosis of AMPA receptors (AMPARs) in the CA1 region is protein synthesis dependent. However, why this form of trafficking, and not that mediated by NMDA receptor activation, is dependent on protein translation is unclear. Here we have studied the contribution of the cytoskeletal microtubule-associated protein 1B (MAP1B) to the pathway-specific internalization of AMPARs. Treatments of cultured neurons with 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol (DHPG) or NMDA, both of which drive AMPAR endocytosis, caused a translation-dependent increase in the dendritic levels of MAP1B protein. Although interfering with protein synthesis using short interfering RNA (siRNA) to eEF2 kinase (eukaryotic elongation factor 2 kinase) blocked the dendritic MAP1B increase by both pathways, it selectively blocked the DHPG-and not the NMDA-induced AMPAR endocytosis. In support of MAP1B synthesis contributing to metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR)-mediated AMPAR endocytosis, siRNA against MAP1B in CA1 cultured neurons specifically blocked the DHPG-induced AMPAR internalization. Previous studies suggest a direct interaction between MAP1B and the AMPARbinding protein GRIP1. Biochemical studies establish that MAP1B associates with GRIP1 and forms a complex with GluR2 in vivo in rat hippocampus. Furthermore, the interaction between MAP1B and GRIP1 increased significantly in acute slices after treatment with DHPG and not NMDA. Together, these findings suggest that MAP1B plays a selective role in the DHPG-induced endocytosis of AMPARs, perhaps through its interaction with GRIP1.

Both the estrogen receptor (ER) and thyroid hormone receptor (TR) are members of the nuclear receptor superfamily. Two isoforms of the ER, α and β, exist. The TRα and β isoforms are products of two distinct genes that are further differentially spliced to give TRα1 and α2, TRβ1 and β2. The TRs have been shown to interfere with ER-mediated transcription from both the consensus estrogen response element (ERE) and the rat preproenkephalin (PPE) promoter, possibly by competing with ER binding to the ERE or by squelching coactivators essential for ER-mediated transcription. The rat oxytocin receptor (OTR) gene is thought to be involved in several facets of reproductive and affiliative behaviors. 17β-Estradiol-bound ERs upregulate the OTR gene in the ventromedial hypothalamus, a region critical for the induction of lordosis behavior in several species. We investigated the effects of the ligand-binding TR isoforms on the ER-mediated transcription from a physiological promoter of a behaviorally relevant gene such as the OTR. Only ERα could induce the OTR gene in two cell lines tested, the CV-1 and the SK-N-BE2C neuroblastoma cell lines. ERβ was incapable of inducing the gene in either cell line. ERα is therefore not equivalent to ERβ on this physiological promoter. Indeed, in the neural cell line, ERβ can inhibit ERα-mediated induction from the OTR promoter. While the TRα1 isoform inhibited ERα-mediated induction in the neural cell line, the TRβ1 isoform stimulated induction, thus demonstrating isoform specificity in the interaction. The use of a DNA-binding mutant, the TR P box mutant, showed that inhibition of ERα-mediated induction of the rat OTR gene promoter by the TRα1 isoform does not require DNA-binding ability. SRC-1 overexpression relieved TRα1-mediated inhibition in both cell lines, suggesting that squelching for coactivators is an important molecular mechanism in TRα-mediated inhibition. Such interactions between TR and ER isoforms on the rat OTR promoter provide a mechanism to achieve neuroendocrine integration.

Agents that produce their effects through an antisense mechanism offer the possibility of developing highly specific alternatives to traditional pharmacological antagonists, thereby providing a novel class of therapeutic agents, ones which act at the level of gene expression. Among the antisense compounds, antisense RNA produced intracellularly by an expression vector has been used extensively in the past several years. This review considers the advantages of the antisense RNA approach over the use of antisense oligodeoxynucleotides, the different means by which one may deliver and produce antisense RNA inside cells, and the experimental criteria one should use to ascertain whether the antisense RNA is acting through a true antisense mechanism. Its major emphasis is on exploring the potential therapeutic use of antisense RNA in several areas of medicine. For example, in the field of oncology antisense RNA has been used to inhibit several different target proteins, such as growth factors, growth factor receptors, proteins responsible for the invasive potential of tumor cells and proteins directly involved in cell cycle progression. In particular, a detailed discussion is presented on the possibility of selectively inhibiting the growth of tumor cells by using antisense RNA expression vectors directed to the individual calmodulin transcripts. Detailed consideration is also provided on the development and potential therapeutic applications of antisense RNA vectors targeted to the D2 dopamine receptor subtype. Studies are also summarized in which antisense RNA has been used to develop more effective therapies for infections with certain viruses such as the human immunodeficiency virus and the virus of hepatitis B, and data are reviewed suggesting new approaches to reduce elevated blood pressure using antisense RNA directed to proteins and receptors from the renin-angiotensin system. Finally, we outline some of the problems which the studies so far have yielded and some outstanding questions which remain to be answered in order to develop further antisense RNA vectors as therapeutic agents.

Davidkova G, Pettersson S, Holmberg D, Lundkvist I. Selective Usage of VH Genes in Adult Human B Lymphocyte Repertoires. Scand J Immunol 1997;45:62-73 The authors have compared the VH gene utilization patterns among small resting immunocompetent B cells and large naturally activated B lymphocytes of healthy human adults. They employed a non-radioactive RNA in situ hybridization technique that allows detection of VH gene family expression at the single cell level. Pokeweed mitogen stimulated and unmanipulated mononuclear cells from peripheral blood and spleen of unrelated individuals were hybridized to digoxigenin-labelled antisense RNA probes specific for human VH families 1-6 and for the constant region genes Cm and Cg. The observed VH gene family utilization patterns did not correlate with the genomic complexity of human VH genes. The VH3 gene family was most frequently used among resting B cells in both peripheral blood and spleen. Among naturally activated lymphocytes the VH6 gene was markedly over-represented, while expression of the VH1 and VH3 gene families was decreased. The data show that V-region mediated selection participates in shaping the peripheral antibody repertoire in healthy adults.