The mitochondria are both the cellular powerhouse and a major nexus by which various insults contribute to cellular dysfunction and death. Given the vital role of mitochondria in maintenance of neuronal homeostasis, we chose to examine the impact of a psychological stressor, restraint stress, on the hippocampal expression levels of the genes expressed by the mitochondrial chromosome. We found that acute stress significantly down-regulated the expression of the complex I constituents ND-1, ND-3 and ND-6; as well as the expression of the complex V ATP-synthase subunit ATP-6. In contrast, chronic stress induced a significant increase in the levels of ND-6. These results suggest that the mitochondrial genome is exquisitely stress sensitive and represents evidence that, in addition to structural and neurogenic plasticity the hippocampus may show energetic plasticity at the level of the mitochondria as well.

Stress modulates mitochondrial gene expression in the rat hippocampus

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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