C-Fos proteins are not involved in the activation of preproenkephalin gene expression in rat brain by peripheral electric stimulation (electroacupuncture).

The present work was designed to study the role of the oncogene product c-Fos in activating the transcription of preproenkephalin (PPE) gene following a kind of peripheral electric stimulation known as electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation. The temporal patterns of rat brain c-fos and PPE mRNA expression were evaluated using the method of Northern blotting, showing that c-fos mRNA expression, which peaked at 2 h after the termination of EA, was always ahead of the PPE mRNA expression which began at 4 h and peaked at 48 h after EA. The methods of immunocytochemistry (ICC) and in situ hybridization (ISH) techniques were combined to identify the co-existence of c-Fos protein and PPE mRNA at the cellular level. The results showed that only a small percentage of PPE mRNA-containing neurons depicts Fos-like immunoreactive nuclei. These findings suggest that c-Fos protein may not be involved in the activation of brain PPE gene transcription induced by peripheral electric stimulation.