title: Resistance of neurofilaments to degradation, and lack of neuronal death and mossy fiber sprouting after kainic acid-induced status epilepticus in the developing rat hippocampus.
abstract: Neurofilament (NF) proteins, the major constituent of intermediate filaments in neurons, have an important role in cellular stability and plasticity. We have now studied the short-term (hours) and long-term (up to 1 week) effects of kainic acid (KA)-induced status epilepticus (SE) on the reactivity of NF proteins, and mossy fiber (MF) sprouting and neuronal death up to 4 weeks in 9-day-old rats. In Western blotting, the expression of the phosphorylation-independent epitopes of NF-L, NF-M, and NF-H rapidly but transiently increased after the treatment, whereas the phosphorylated NF-M remained elevated for 7 days. However, the treatment did not change the immunoreactivity of NF proteins, and no neuronal death or mossy fiber sprouting was detected at any time point. Our findings indicate seizure-induced reactivity of NF proteins but their resistance to degradation, which could be of importance in neuronal survival and may also prevent MF sprouting in the developing hippocampus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, FIN-20520 Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lopez-Picon
authors.forename: Niina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Puustinen
authors.forename: Tiina-Kaisa
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Kukko-Lukjanov
authors.forename: Irma E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Holopainen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D007382:Intermediate Filaments / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007608:Kainic Acid / Q000633:toxicity*; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013226:Status Epilepticus / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D016900:Neurofilament Proteins; D007608:Kainic Acid