Astroglial regulation of apolipoprotein E expression in neuronal cells. Implications for Alzheimer's disease.
Although apolipoprotein (apo) E is synthesized in the brain primarily by astrocytes, neurons in the central nervous system express apoE, albeit at lower levels than astrocytes, in response to various physiological and pathological conditions, including excitotoxic stress. To investigate how apoE expression is regulated in neurons, we transfected Neuro-2a cells with a 17-kilobase human apoE genomic DNA construct encoding apoE3 or apoE4 along with upstream and downstream regulatory elements. The baseline expression of apoE was low. However, conditioned medium from an astrocytic cell line (C6) or from apoE-null mouse primary astrocytes increased the expression of both isoforms by 3-4-fold at the mRNA level and by 4-10-fold at the protein level. These findings suggest that astrocytes secrete a factor or factors that regulate apoE expression in neuronal cells. The increased expression of apoE was almost completely abolished by incubating neurons with U0126, an inhibitor of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk), suggesting that the Erk pathway controls astroglial regulation of apoE expression in neuronal cells. Human neuronal precursor NT2/D1 cells expressed apoE constitutively; however, after treatment of these cells with retinoic acid to induce differentiation, apoE expression diminished. Cultured mouse primary cortical and hippocampal neurons also expressed low levels of apoE. Astrocyte-conditioned medium rapidly up-regulated apoE expression in fully differentiated NT2 neurons and in cultured mouse primary cortical and hippocampal neurons. Thus, neuronal expression of apoE is regulated by a diffusible factor or factors released from astrocytes, and this regulation depends on the activity of the Erk kinase pathway in neurons.
Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease, University of California, San Francisco, California 94141-9100, USA.
Faith M
FM
Harris
Ina
I
Tesseur
Walter J
WJ
Brecht
Qin
Q
Xu
Karin
K
Mullendorff
Shengjun
S
Chang
Tony
T
Wyss-Coray
Robert W
RW
Mahley
Yadong
Y
Huang
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002070:Butadienes / Q000494:pharmacology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned / Q000494:pharmacology; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D009570:Nitriles / Q000494:pharmacology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015854:Up-Regulation
D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D002070:Butadienes; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D009570:Nitriles; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C113580:U 0126; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases