hnRNA and mature mRNA expression of glucocorticoid-inducible genes in the ventral hippocampus under baseline conditions and after stress. Rats were killed direct from home cage (∼7:00 AM; AM baseline) or at 15 min (15), 30 min (30), 60 min (60), or 180 min (180) after the start of FS (15 min, 25 °C water). The graphs show expression of (A) Fkbp5, (B) Per1, and (C) Sgk1 in the ventral hippocampus after normalization to the expression of housekeeping genes Hprt1 and Ywhaz, and they are represented as mean fold change over baseline RNA levels (±SEM; n = 8–9 per group). Expressions of both hnRNA (white bars; left y axis) and mature mRNA (black bars; right y axis) are shown for individual genes. Statistical analysis: one-way ANOVA: (A) hnRNA F(4,
35) = 155.30, P < 0.0001; mRNA F(4,
35) = 23.13, P < 0.0001; (B) hnRNA F(4,
35) = 66.36, P < 0.0001; mRNA F(4,
34) = 12.67, P < 0.0001; (C) hnRNA F(4,
36) = 42.22, P < 0.0001; mRNA F(4,
35) = 60.10, P < 0.0001. Bonferroni posthoc test. *P < 0.05 compared with baseline (AM).