A research on the expression of Nucb2/ cAMP / PKA in the hippocampus of alcohol-dependent rats

To probe into the expression of Nucb2/cAMP/PKA signaling in the hippocampus of alcohol-dependent rats. Male SD rats were first divided into control (n = 8) and model groups (n = 8) at random. Subsequently, alcohol dependence model was prepared by double bottles of intermittent drinking 20% alcohol. Apart from that, the changes of body weight, alcohol intake and alcohol preference were recorded during the modeling period; the behavioral changes of rats were recorded by elevated plus maze and water maze; Followed by model establishment, qRT-PCR was being applied to detect mRNA levels and protein expression levels of nucleobindin-2 (Nucb2), adenylate cyclase (AC), cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) and cAMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB) etc. There was no remarkable distinction between the weight of rats in both control and model groups throughout the experiment (P＞0.05); after the alcohol consumption of rats in the drinking group exceeded 28d, the alcohol intake finally reached the plateau (16.65 ± 1.31) g/(kg.24 h). What's more, the alcohol preference (61.77 ± 2.81) % reached the stable baseline, which means that the rat alcohol dependence model was established; in comparison with those of the control group (P < 0.01), the number of open arm entries and the retention time of open arm in the model group were remarkably decreased in the elevated plus maze assay; in the water maze assay, the memory ability of the model group was reduced in comparison with the control group (P < 0.05); In comparison with the control group, the relative expression levels of Nucb2, AC, PKA and CREB were noticeably decreased in the model group. Nucb2 is not only bound up with alcohol dependence,but also may conduct a pivotal role in alcohol dependence by regulating the cAMP/PKA signaling pathway.