title: Regulation of hippocampal parkin protein by corticosteroids.
abstract: Parkin is a protein that when mutated leads to an inherited form of Parkinson's disease. Under normal conditions, this molecule has multiple functions in different cell types, including protein degradation and tumor suppression. To understand the relationship between parkin and circulating corticosteroid hormones, we studied the long-term depletion of corticosterone due to bilateral adrenalectomy in rats. We show that adrenalectomy deletes the expected expression of nuclear parkin in hippocampal neurons. Notably, the effect of adrenalectomy on parkin was prevented by corticosterone hormone replacement therapy. This finding suggests that adrenal hormones may be critical in sustaining parkin ubiquitinating activity in the rat hippocampus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory, Medaille College, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA. jhorowitz@medaille.edu
authors.forename: Judith M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Horowitz
authors.forename: Danielle M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Pastor
authors.forename: Subrata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kar
authors.forename: Suzanne A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Arinsburg
authors.forename: Brian H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Hallas
authors.forename: German
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Torres
mesh_terms: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000315:Adrenalectomy / Q000379:methods; D000368:Aged; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases; C111567:parkin protein