Figure 10.

Arc expression increases H4K12Ac levels. Cortical neurons (21 DIV) were transfected with Arc-YFP or YFP as a control. The next day, the cultures were treated with either forskolin or the combination of 4AP−bicuculline−forskolin (see Materials and Methods for details). After 4 h of treatment, the neurons were fixed and stained for both H4K12Ac and endogenous Arc, using a red and far-red secondary antibody, respectively. DNA was labeled using DAPI. Scale bars, 10 μm. A, Representative images for the four experimental conditions. Each field contains a transfected neuron (YFP or Arc-YFP) surrounded by untransfected controls. The top row shows the YFP or Arc-YFP signal, and the bottom row represents the H4K12Ac signal. The transfected neuron is indicated with a white arrow. Nuclear outlines are shown as thin blue lines. B, H4K12Ac levels (mean fluorescence intensity per nucleus) were determined for both transfected neurons (YFP or Arc-YFP) and untransfected controls (Con) for both treatment conditions for 30 fields of view containing at least 1 − 4 transfected neurons and 30 − 90 untransfected controls. The bar graph shows the average H4K12Ac levels, normalized using the mean of the untransfected neurons, with error bars indicating SEMs. YFP overexpression did not significantly alter H4K12Ac levels in either condition: p values were 0.07 and 0.12 for forskolin and 4AP−Bic−Fors, respectively. Arc-YFP overexpression increased H4K12 acetylation levels for both treatment scenarios, with high statistical significance (p = 3*10⁻⁵ for forskolin, p = 5*10⁻¹¹ for 4AP−Bic−Fors), although the increase was much larger following network activation by 4AP−Bic−Fors (89%) than with forskolin treatment only (10%). ***p < 0.0001; n.s., not significant. C, The relationship between endogenous Arc expression and H4K12Ac levels was investigated by analyzing the neurons that were not transfected. The inset shows DAPI, endogenous Arc, and H4K12Ac levels for 15 untransfected neuronal nuclei. Five neurons (solid white arrows) strongly expressed endogenous Arc and the same five neurons also displayed high levels of H4K12 acetylation. Eleven neurons (thin gray arrows) had barely detectable Arc levels, and H4K12Ac staining was faint as well. Nuclei are outlined by a thin blue line. The graph was generated by sorting 816 nuclei by their endogenous Arc levels and plotting H4K12Ac levels versus the sortation index, from low to high Arc levels. The solid black line is a moving average of 50 H4K12Ac values. Scale bars, 10 μm.