Fig. 1: Increased expression of Stat3 and its transcriptional target genes in the hippocampus of ethanol withdrawn rats after chronic exposure.
Rats were fed control liquid diet (C), ethanol liquid diet (E), or ethanol liquid diet followed by 24 h of withdrawal from ethanol diet (W). The dorsal hippocampus was dissected and RNA isolated and subjected to RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq, n = 6) or qPCR (n = 10). A–C Volcano plots of genes differentially expressed between (A) C and E, (B) E and W, and (C) C and W by RNA-Seq. Red and blue dots indicate genes that were increased and decreased, respectively, in each comparison with q ≤ 0.1. D Heat map of 53 modules identified by weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) with eigengene q-values (−log10) in C vs. E, C vs. W, and W vs. E comparisons. E Heat map showing expression of 1794 genes in module 1 in C, E, and W conditions. Each column is from an individual rat. Blue and red indicate decreased and increased expression levels, respectively. F Cytoscape plot of STRING protein–protein interaction analysis showing a module 1 cluster with the first shell of interactors with STAT3. G–L Relative expression by qPCR of (G) Stat3, (H) Gfap, (I) Socs3, (J) Tnfrsf1a, (K) Timp1 and (L) Osmr in C, E, and W conditions. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ****p < 0.0001 by Tukey’s test after one-way ANOVA.
