Review : The Immediate-Early Gene Response and Neuronal Death and Regeneration

Abstract

The induction of the cellular immediate-early gene (cIEG) response is the earliest known transcriptional con sequence of neuronal excitation. It is believed that the products of the cIEGs (such as c- fos and c- jun) serve to bring about persistent changes in neuronal phenotype by altering gene expression and modifying signal transduction pathways. This has led, on the one hand, to the burgeoning use of Fos immunohistochemistry as a surrogate form of neuronal activity mapping and, on the other hand, to a quest for the biochemical functions of individual cIEG products in the nervous system. Recent studies of neuronal death and regen eration have contributed substantially to our vision of the molecular and biological characteristics of the cIEG response. Indeed, they have challenged some of its long-held tenets. Therefore, we will use these results to illustrate our most contemporary view of the cIEG response in the nervous system. The Neuroscientist 1:68- 75,1995