Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Modifies Glucocorticoid Receptor Subcellular Distribution in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Impairs Frontal Cortex-Dependent Learning
Figure 3
Nuclear levels of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), phospho-serine 226 (pS226) GR (left column), phospho-serine 211 (pS211) GR (center column) and phospho-serine 203 (pS203) GR (right column) in the medial frontal cortex of saccharin (SAC) control and prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) offspring.
Nuclear fractions were prepared and anti-GR (top row graphs) and anti-phospho-specific GR (middle row graphs) immunoreactivities were determined, as described in the Materials and Methods. Anti-GR and anti-phospho-GR data are presented as the mean (± SEM) immunoreactivities from PAE (n = 9–10) and SAC (n = 9–10) mice corrected to Coomassie stain. The ratio of the anti-phospho-GR to anti-total GR immunoreactivities (bottom row graphs) was calculated as described in the Materials and Methods. Total nuclear GR levels were significantly lower in the PAE mice (p = .05 for pS226 GR, left top panel; p = .008 for pS211 GR, center top panel; p = .005 for pS203 GR, right top panel). The ratio of each phospho-GR to total GR was significantly higher in the PAE (pS226 GR/total GR, p = .04; pS211 GR/total GR, p = .04; pS203 GR/total GR, p = .02). Representative Western blots are presented below.