Use of RNase protection assays to measure the effect of amphetamine on midbrain TH mRNA and actin mRNA levels
| Treatment | Time after AMPH | TH mRNA | Actin mRNA | TH mRNA/actin mRNA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| days | atmol/μg of RNA | atmol of TH mRNA/atmol of actin mRNA | ||
| Saline | 1 (5) | 0.14 ± 0.02 | 0.74 ± 0.08 | 0.20 ± 0.02 |
| AMPH | 1 (5) | 0.16 ± 0.02 | 0.79 ± 0.05 | 0.20 ± 0.02 |
| Saline | 3 (5) | 0.21 ± 0.04 | 0.59 ± 0.07 | 0.35 ± 0.03 |
| AMPH | 3 (9) | 0.29 ± 0.04 | 0.86 ± 0.08 | 0.32 ± 0.02 |
| Saline | 14 (4) | 0.27 ± 0.02 | 0.80 ± 0.07 | 0.34 ± 0.02 |
| AMPH | 14 (6) | 0.28 ± 0.06 | 0.80 ± 0.07 | 0.38 ± 0.03 |
| months | ||||
| Saline | 4 (7) | 0.19 ± 0.04 | 0.65 ± 0.08 | 0.29 ± 0.04 |
| AMPH | 4 (8) | 0.20 ± 0.01 | 0.77 ± 0.05 | 0.27 ± 0.01 |
Rats were treated with saline or 3 mg/kg amphetamine four times once every 2 hr, and midbrains were isolated at the time points. TH mRNA and actin mRNA levels were measured using RNase protection assay and normalized to the micrograms of total cellular RNA put into the hybridization reactions.
Data represent the mean ± S.E. from the number of rats designated in the parentheses.