An Endogenous RNA Transcript Antisense to CNGα1 Cation Channel mRNA

CNG channels are cyclic nucleotide-gated Ca²⁺-permeable channels that are suggested to be involved in the activity-dependent alterations of synaptic strength that are thought to underlie information storage in the CNS. In this study, we isolated an endogenous RNA transcript antisense to CNGα1 mRNA. This transcript was capable of down-regulating the expression of sense CNGα1 in the Xenopus oocyte expression system. RT-PCR, Northern blot, and in situ hybridization analyses showed that the transcript was coexpressed with CNGα1 mRNA in many regions of human brain, notably in those regions that were involved in long-term potentiation and long-term depression, such as hippocampal CA1 and CA3, dentate gyrus, and cerebellar Purkinje layer. Comparison of expression patterns between adult and fetal cerebral cortex revealed that there were concurrent developmental changes in the expression levels of anti-CNG1 and CNGα1. Treatment of human glioma cell T98 with thyroid hormone T₃ caused a significant increase in anti-CNG1 expression and a parallel decrease in sense CNGα1 expression. These data suggest that the suppression of CNGα1 expression by anti-CNG1 may play an important role in neuronal functions, especially in synaptic plasticity and cortical development. Endogenous antisense RNA-mediated regulation may represent a new mechanism through which the activity of ion channels can be regulated in the human CNS.