title: Vitamin E deficiency and aging effect on expression levels of GAP-43 and MAP-2 in selected areas of the brain.
abstract: The expression levels of GAP-43 and MAP-2, two proteins involved, respectively, in axonal and dendritic remodeling, in control adult (11 months), old (24 months), and vitamin E-deficient (11 months) rats were evaluated. mRNA levels were determined by means of a quantitative in situ hybridization procedure in subregions of hippocampus and cerebellum. Though a general trend can be observed indicating a reduction in GAP-43 expression in aging as compared to adult animals and an increase in vitamin E-deprived rats in comparison with adult animals, no statistically significant change was found in any region analyzed. In the same way, MAP-2 mRNA levels show an increase in vitamin E-deprived rats in comparison with other groups tested; only one variation was statistically significant, namely the increase in cerebellar cortex MAP-2 nRNA levels in vitamin E-deficient versus adult rats. These results suggest that oxidative stress and aging negatively affect neuroplasticity, showing different characteristics at the dendritic and axonal levels.
authors.affiliation: Neurobiology of Aging Laboratory, INRCA Research Department, Via Birarelli 8, 60121 Ancona, Italy. t.casoli@inrca.it
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Casoli
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Stefano
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delfino
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fattoretti
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bertoni-Freddari
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000378:metabolism; D002540:Cerebral Cortex; D005260:Female; D019922:GAP-43 Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013696:Temperature; D014811:Vitamin E Deficiency / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019922:GAP-43 Protein; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C049301:microtubule-associated protein-2 phosphatase; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases