We next sought to determine the role of MeCP2 in fetal alcohol exposure-induced repression of POMC expression. Methyl CpG binding domain (MBD) proteins are known to bind hypermethylated promoters thereby repressing transcription. MeCP2 has a conserved MBD motif which specifically recognizes and binds methylated DNA [26]. In our studies we found that MeCP2 mRNA expression and protein were significantly increased in the MBH of AF rats compared to AD and PF control rats (Fig. 2A,B). The protein level of MeCP2 was also increased in β-endorphin cells of the ARC of AF rats, as compared to AD and PF rats (Fig. 2C).
