[Inhibitory effects of deoxyribozyme on the expression of Period1 gene in vitro and on morphine-induced psychic dependence in mice].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the regulatory effects of deoxyribozyme on the expression of Period 1 gene in vitro and on the morphine-induced psychic dependence in mice. METHODS: The specific deoxyribozymes toward Period 1 mRNA was designed by MFold analysis and synethsized chemically. By LipofectAMINE mediated DNA transfection technique, DRz164 and pcDNA3-Per1 were introduced into NIH3T3 cells. The effects of deoxyribozyme on Period 1 gene were studied by reverse transcript-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and flow cytometry(FCM). The morphine-induced reward in mice was observed in a conditioned place preference test after pretreatment of the mice with the intracerebroventricular administration of deoxyribozyme. RESULTS: After NIH3T3 cells were transfected by pcDNA3-Per1 and DRz164, the Period 1 mRNA was reduced by 42.4%. And PERIOD proteins were decreased by 57.5%. After being pretreated with deoxyribozyme, the mice did not show morphine-induced place preference. CONCLUSION: DRz164 can highly block the expression of Period 1 gene, which cleaves the Period 1 mRNA in the transfected cells specifically. The suppression of morphine-induced place preference can be effected by pretreating the mice with alleviating their psychic dependence on morphine.