title: Presence of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II in nerve terminals of rat brain.
abstract: Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type II, a multimeric 550-650 kilodalton enzyme composed of major alpha (50 kilodalton) and beta/beta' (60/58 kilodalton) subunits, is present in high concentrations in mammalian brain. Previous immunocytochemical studies indicated that the enzyme is enriched in cell bodies and dendrites, but did not show a clear-cut localization in nerve terminals. The present study presents evidence, using lesion-induced degenerations of pre- and postsynaptic neuronal populations in the neostriatum and substantia nigra, that calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, as measured both by autophosphorylation of enzyme subunits and by synapsin I kinase activity, is present in high concentrations in several populations of presynaptic terminals. Lesions of the corticostriatal tract decreased the amount of enzyme by 30-40% in the neostriatum, a decrease similar to that seen in the same region of synapsin I, a general nerve terminal marker. Lesions of the striatonigral tract induced an even more pronounced decrease of the enzyme in the substantia nigra; this decrease was larger than the lesion-induced change of synapsin I seen in the same region. Our data therefore indicate that certain nerve terminal populations in the rat brain contain high levels of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10021.
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Walaas
authors.forename: F S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Gorelick
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Greengard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000201:enzymology*; D008297:Male; D009411:Nerve Endings / Q000201:enzymology*; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000201:enzymology*
chemical_list: D011494:Protein Kinases; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases