title: Expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein and glutamine synthetase genes in the natural scrapie of sheep.
abstract: Gene expression of two astroglial markers, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and glutamine synthetase (GS), was investigated in cerebellum and brainstem from scrapie-affected sheep. The GFAP and GFAP-mRNA concentrations were increased in the two cerebral regions studied in the scrapie-affected animals as compared to the controls. The good correlation between the increase in GFAP and GFAP-mRNA concentrations found in scrapie-affected sheep indicates a significant de novo synthesis of GFAP in this pathology. In contrast to these results, in scrapie no significant differences in GS-mRNA content appeared in either brain area from scrapie-affected sheep as compared to the controls. This fact could suggest some specificity of GFAP expression changes in this pathology. The overexpression of GFAP gene could be related to a possible interaction between GFAP and scrapie infectious agent in astrocytes. The relative increase in the GFAP and its encoding message in affected animals was higher in the cerebellum than in the brainstem, which would suggest regional comparative differences in the effect here described.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquimica y Biologia Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Veterinaria, Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Andres-Barquin
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Le Prince
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fages
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Garcia de Jalon
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pérez-Martos
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tardy
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: López-Pérez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000378:metabolism; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000378:metabolism; D003720:Densitometry; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000502:physiology*; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D005974:Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012608:Scrapie / Q000378:metabolism*; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D005974:Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase