title: Postnatal regulation of ZnT-1 expression in the mouse brain.
abstract: We have characterized the postnatal development of ZnT-1, a putative zinc transporter, in the mouse brain with respect to chelatable zinc in four distinct brain areas: cerebral cortex, hippocampus, olfactory bulb and cerebellum. At birth, both zinc and ZnT-1 immunoreactivity were nearly undetectable. Beginning at the end of the first postnatal week, ZnT-1 expression increased significantly in all areas examined except the cerebellum, which contains virtually no synaptic zinc. Moreover, neurons immunoreactive for ZnT-1 were typically present in areas rich in synaptic zinc, which increased in parallel with ZnT-1. In the cerebellum, in contrast, Purkinje cells exhibited robust immunoreactivity for ZnT-1 only in the second postnatal week. While the parallel development of zinc and ZnT-1 in forebrain regions supports a direct role for synaptic zinc in regulating ZnT-1 expression, ZnT-1 in cerebellar Purkinje cells could indicate that expression of this zinc transporter may also be regulated by a non-synaptic pool of zinc or by other mechanism(s). The striking developmental regulation of ZnT-1 expression together with synaptic zinc indicates that ZnT-1 may play a key role in protecting developing neurons against potentially toxic zinc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Morphology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84105, Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Yuval B
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Nitzan
authors.forename: Israel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sekler
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hershfinkel
authors.forename: Arie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moran
authors.forename: William F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Silverman
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D013569:Synapses / Q000378:metabolism; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D015032:Zinc / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C485803:Slc30a1 protein, mouse; D015032:Zinc