Up-regulation of GAT-1,GAT-3 in genetic epileptic rat hippocampus

Aim To investigate mRNA and protein expression of GAT-1 and GAT-3 in hippocampus of tremor rats(TRMs)and Wistar rats as the control groups.Methods Total RNA was extracted from the whole hippocampus tissues of TRMs and Wistar rats and mRNA expressions of GAT-1,GAT-3 were analysed byRT-PCR;the expressions of GAT-1 and GAT-3 at the protein level were detected by Western blot and immunohistochemistry.Results The expressions of GAT-1 at mRNA and protein levels were both significantly increased compared with the control group(P0.01);we also observed the marked increase of GAT-3 mRNA and protein in the hippocampus of TRM(P0.05 and P0.01,respectively).It was obviously observed that GAT-1 protein in TRMs and Wistar rats were both localized widely in hippocampus by immunohistochemistry including CA1,CA3 and DG regions.However,in terms of GAT-3,a weak immunoreaction appeared in CA3 and DG regions except for the evident observation in the CA1 region of hippocampus.Conclusions The up-regulation of GAT-1 and GAT-3 in TRM hippocampus may contribute to the generation of seizure which is likely to provide the potential therapeutic targets for genetic epilepsy.