title: Nervous system-specific expression of a novel serine protease: regulation in the adult rat spinal cord by excitotoxic injury.
abstract: A full-length cDNA clone of a previously unidentified serine protease, myelencephalon-specific protease (MSP), has been isolated by using a PCR cloning strategy and has been shown to be expressed in a nervous system and spinal cord-specific pattern. Sequence analysis demonstrated that MSP is most similar in sequence to neuropsin, trypsin, and tissue kallikrein and is predicted to have trypsin-like substrate specificity. MSP mRNA was found to be approximately 10-fold greater in the CNS of the rat and human, as compared with most peripheral tissues, and within the CNS was found to be highest by a factor of four in the medulla oblongata and spinal cord. Levels of mRNA encoding tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) also were elevated in the spinal cord but were more widespread in peripheral tissues as compared with MSP. In the adult rat lumbosacral spinal cord, in situ localization of MSP mRNA demonstrated 2-fold higher levels in the white, as compared with the gray, matter. MSP mRNA expression was shown to increase 3-fold in the white matter and 1.5-fold in the gray laminae at 72 hr after intraperitoneal injection of the AMPA/kainate glutamate receptor-specific agonist, kainic acid (KA). MSP mRNA remained elevated in the ventral gray matter, including expression associated with the motor neurons of lamina IX, at 7 d after the initial excitotoxic insult. Together, these observations indicate that MSP is in a position to play a fundamental role in normal homeostasis and in the response of the spinal cord to injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida 32224, USA.
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Scarisbrick
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Towner
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Isackson
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D005796:Genes; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D007608:Kainic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D009420:Nervous System / Q000737:chemistry; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000633:toxicity*; D009928:Organ Specificity; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009498:Neurotoxins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; C108816:myelencephalon-specific serine protease; D007608:Kainic Acid