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Expression patterns of c-Fos early gene and phosphorylated ERK in the rat brain following 1-h immobilization stress: concomitant changes induced in association with stress-related sleep rebound

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An Erratum to this article was published on 25 March 2014

Abstract

An immobilization stress (IS) of 1 h applied at the beginning of the dark phase is followed by a sleep rebound. During the restraint, serotonin released by the dorsal raphe nucleus within the arcuate area stimulates the availability of corticotropin-like intermediate lobe peptide (CLIP or ACTH18-39). Three hours after the restraint, CLIP, through its hypnogenic properties, contributes to the sleep rebound that follows the IS. Here, we immunohistochemically evaluated protein expression of the immediate early gene, c-Fos and phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK) in hypothalamic (preoptic area [POA], paraventricular nucleus [PVN], arcuate nucleus [ARC]) and brain stem (dorsal raphe [DR], locus coeruleus [LC]) nuclei involved in the acute response to stress and the subsequent stress-related sleep rebound (recovery period). Immediately after the 1-h restraint, c-Fos and p-ERK expression increased in all structures studied, particularly in PVN and LC. Three hours later, the number of p-ERK- and c-Fos-positive neurons was reduced in PVN and LC (p < 0.001) as well as in DR (p < 0.01) compared to control animals. In contrast, both c-Fos and p-ERK expression in POA neurons (p < 0.01) and c-Fos expression in ARC neurons (p < 0.001) were increased 3 h after the IS. The marked activation observed in PVN and LC nucleus immediately after the IS confirms that these structures are clearly reactive to stress. However, the high activity observed in POA and ARC neurons during the recovery period, not described to date, highlights the particular part played by these structures in the stress-related sleep rebound. An unbalance in the above processes may contribute to pathological outcomes, such as anxiety and depression.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support was provided by Claude Bernard University of Lyon, the Neuroscience Research Center of Lyon, Lyon, France, and Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti Medical Sciences University, Evin, Teheran, Iran. The authors are also thankful to English Manager Science Editing (Sydney, Australia) for reviewing the English form.

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  1. Fatemeh Keshavarzy

    Present address: Physiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Shiraz Medical Sciences University, Shiraz, Iran

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Functional Neuroanatomy Laboratory, Physiology Department and Neuroscience Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti Medical Sciences University, Evin, Tehran, Iran

    Fatemeh Keshavarzy & Gila Bezhadi

  2. Neuroscience Research Center of Lyon (INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292 & UCBLyon1), University of Lyon, 8 Avenue Rockefeller, 69373, Lyon, France

    Chantal Bonnet & Raymond Cespuglio

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  1. Fatemeh Keshavarzy
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Correspondence to Gila Bezhadi or Raymond Cespuglio.

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G. Bezhadi and R. Cespuglio share equality for the last position.

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Keshavarzy, F., Bonnet, C., Bezhadi, G. et al. Expression patterns of c-Fos early gene and phosphorylated ERK in the rat brain following 1-h immobilization stress: concomitant changes induced in association with stress-related sleep rebound. Brain Struct Funct 220, 1793–1804 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-014-0728-6

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