title: Expression of APG-2 protein, a member of the heat shock protein 110 family, in developing rat brain.
abstract: APG-2 protein is a member of the heat shock protein 110 family, and it is thought to play an important role in the maintenance of neuronal functions under physiological and stress conditions. However, neither the tissue-distribution of APG-2 protein nor developmental change of its expression has been studied at the protein level. Therefore, we generated an antiserum against APG-2 protein and studied expression of this protein in rat brain and other tissues by use of the Western blot method. The results showed a high expression of APG-2 protein in various regions of the central nervous system (cerebral cortex, hippocampus, striatum, midbrain, hypothalamus, cerebellum, medulla pons, and spinal cord) throughout the entire postnatal stage. Similarly, a high level of APG-2 protein was detected in the whole brain of rat embryos and in adult rat tissues such as liver, lung, spleen, and kidney. In contrast, its expression in heart was high at postnatal days 1 and 3, but thereafter drastically decreased to a low level. Furthermore, APG-2 protein was detected in neuronal primary cultures prepared from rat cerebral cortex, and its level did not change notably during neuronal differentiation. These results show that APG-2 protein is constitutively expressed in various tissues and also in neuronal cells throughout the entire embryonic and postnatal period. suggesting that it might play an important role in these tissues under non-stress conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hiroshima University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okui
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogita
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kuramoto
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kudoh
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ide
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001921:Brain / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D050957:HSP110 Heat-Shock Proteins; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007106:Immune Sera; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D050957:HSP110 Heat-Shock Proteins; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; C494655:Hspa4 protein, rat; D007106:Immune Sera; D010446:Peptide Fragments