Gel shift analysis of the DNA containing the CRE consensus sequence using rat anterior hypothalamic extracts at several time points after hypothermic stress. Each lane represents 10 μg of protein extract from 12- to 13-day-old rats. Samples in lanes 1 and 7 were derived from rats under stress-free conditions. For the other samples, rats were killed at 0 min (lanes 2 and 8), 15 min (lanes 3 and 9), 30 min (lanes 4 and 10), 60 min (lanes 5 and 11) or 180 min (lanes 6 and 12) after termination of hypothermic stress. A progressive increase in the CRE-binding capacity of the hypothalamic extracts is evident after stress, peaking at the 30-min time point (lane 4). Specificity of the CRE-binding activity was determined by competing with 100-fold excess of an unlabeled oligonucleotide containing the CRE consensus sequence. All of the stress-induced CRE-binding activity is eliminated by excess unlabeled CRE (lanes 7–12)