Induction of the c-fos proto-oncogene in the rat pineal gland during stress

To investigate the effects of stressful stimuli on pineal gland activity, male Wistar albino rats (200-250 g, 2-4 per group) were submitted to 30 min of forced immobilization or to unilateral vibrissotomy 30 min before sacrifice. In situ hybridization was performed with a 35 S-labelled 50-base oligonucleotide probe complementary to nucleotides 270-319 of rat c-fos on sections containing the pineal gland. Autoradiograms were quantified using a JAVA microdensitometer