Analysis of Differential Expression of Neurotransmitter Receptors with TNF-a Treatment in Rat Primary Hypothalamic Cell

In this study, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) was incubated to primary hypothalamic cell culture of rat as an important inflammatory cytokine and the effect of TNF-α to neurotransmitter receptors of the hypothalamus in vitro by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR with PCR array for researching the effect of TNF-α to neuroendocrine system was analyzed. The result showed that the expression level of Avpr1a, Gabrr1, Grin1, Htr4, and Tspo 5 genes was obviously up and the other Adrb2, Cckbr, Chrm5, Chrna6, Gabra5, Gabra6, Grm8, Htr2c, Htr3a, Sstr1, and Tacr1 11 genes were down. Especially, Grin1 and Tacr1 were affected obviously, increased 3.12 and decreased 2.76, respectively. So, TNF-α can modulate the expression of many receptors of neurotransmitters of the hypothalamus by the special cell signal transduction pathways and alter the responsibility and exciting of these neurons to neurotransmitters corresponding. Furthermore, these changes can affect many hormone secretion of the hypothalamus and affect neuroendocrine function of rat.