title: Immunogold study of regional differences in the distribution of glucose transporter (GLUT-1) in mouse brain associated with physiological and accelerated aging and scrapie infection.
abstract: Distribution of glucose transporter (GLUT-1) in brain microvascular endothelia, representing the anatomic site of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), was studied in adult, physiologically aged, senescence-accelerated prone (SAMP8) and in scrapie-infected mice. Sections of tissue samples obtained from four brain regions (cerebral cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum, and olfactory bulb) and embedded in Lowicryl K4M were exposed to anti-GLUT-1 antiserum followed by gold-labeled secondary antibody. Labelling density was recorded over luminal and abluminal plasma membranes of the microvascular endothelial cells. We found that the density of immunosignals for GLUT-1 in the cerebral cortex showed a tendency toward insignificant diminution according to the following gradation-adult > SAMP8 > scrapie > aged mice-whereas in the hippocampus, this gradation was slightly different: adult > aged > scrapie > SAMP8 mice. In the cerebellum, immunolabelling was insignificantly diminished in aged mice, whereas it was significantly decreased in scrapie-infected and SAMP8 mice. The intensity of labelling of the vascular endothelium in the olfactory bulb was significantly lower than that in other brain regions, showing a slight decrease in the following sequence: adult > aged > scrapie > SAMP8 mice. These findings suggest that the process of aging as well as of related neurodegenerative disease affects unequally the distribution of GLUT-1 in the vasculature of different brain regions.
authors.affiliation: New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, 1050 Forest Hill Road, Staten Island, New York 10314, USA.
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Vorbrodt
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Dobrogowska
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Meeker
authors.forename: R I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Carp
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000098:blood supply / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000737:chemistry; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000098:blood supply / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000098:blood supply / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D012608:Scrapie / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; C495678:Slc2a1 protein, mouse