Skip to main content
. 1996 Nov 26;93(24):14140–14145. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.24.14140

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Rhythmic NAT expression in CREM mutant mice is deregulated. Pineal RNA from wt (+/+) and CREM mutant (−/−) littermates that were sacrificed in parallel at the times indicated throughout the night, were analyzed for NAT (A) and Fra-2 (B) expression by RNase protection assay. The NAT transcript begins to increase at 23:00 in the mutant mice while a similar increase is detected later in the wt animals between 24:00 and 01:00. The peak of expression at 03:00 is considerably stronger in the mutant than in the wt animals. Furthermore, the NAT transcript remains higher in the mutant than the wt mice at 09:00. In contrast, Fra-2 expression has the same profile in both sets of mice as shown in Fig. 2B. (C). The times of sacrifice relative to the 12-hr night are shown schematically. Above is represented the kinetics of nighttime NAT mRNA expression in the wt (+/+; black shaded curve) and CREM mutant mice (−/−; grey shaded curve). Lack of CREM significantly perturbs the normal profile of NAT expression.