Fig. 1.

Age-specific and SKF 83959-dependent effects on BDNF expression in NAc, CP and PFC of adult and juvenile rats. (a) Animals exhibited an age-dependent difference in basal BDNF expression in NAc, with juvenile rats exhibiting significantly higher expression than their adult counterparts. SKF 83959 (1.5 mg/kg s.c.) administration resulted in a modest but insignificant increase in BDNF levels in juvenile animals, however a substantial increase in BDNF expression was induced in adult rats (b) Adult and juvenile rats showed similar basal BDNF levels in CP. SKF 83959 treatment had no effect on BDNF expression in this region. (c) Juvenile rats exhibited significantly lower basal BDNF expression in PFC than adult rats. SKF 83959 significantly elevated BDNF expression in both age groups. Representative blots for each region are also shown. GAPDH was used as a loading control. Data are represented as mean ± SEM, and are expressed as a percent of adult/saline controls. {NAc: Drug, F(1,22)=13.0, P=0.002; Age, F(1,22)=3.8, P=0.06, n.s.; Drug × Age, F(1,22)=0.7, P=0.40, n.s.; CP: Drug, F(1,22)=0.01, P=0.94, n.s.; Age, F(1,22)=0.3, P=0.61, n.s.; Drug × Age, F(1,22)=0.4, P=0.54, n.s.; PFC: Drug, F(1,23)=22.3, P<0.001; Age, F(1,23)=0.02, P=0.88, n.s; Drug × Age, F(1,23)=3.1, P=0.09, n.s.}. N=6-7/group per experiment. *P<0.05 compared to basal expression of adult rats; ^##P<0.01 compared to saline controls of the same age.