Expression of neurocan after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion in adult rat brain.
Neurocan is one of the major chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans in the nervous tissues. The expression and proteolytic cleavage of neurocan are developmentally regulated in the normal rat brain, and the full-length neurocan is detected in juvenile brains but not in normal adult brains. Recently, some studies showed that the full-length neurocan was detectable even in the adult brain when it was exposed to mechanical incision or epileptic stimulation. In the present study, we demonstrated by Western blot analysis that the full-length neurocan transiently appeared in the peri-ischemic region of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) in adult rat with a peak level at 4 days after tMCAO. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that a clear positive signal of neurocan was observed 4 days after tMCAO in the peri-ischemic region of cerebral cortex and caudate, where cells strongly positive in GFAP expression were also distributed. These results indicate that accumulation of the full-length neurocan produced by reactive astrocytes may be one of the processes for tissue repair and reconstruction of neural networks after focal brain ischemia as well.
Deguchi
Kentaro
K
Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama University, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Okayama 700-8558, Japan.
Takaishi
Mikiro
M
Hayashi
Takeshi
T
Oohira
Atsuhiko
A
Nagotani
Shoko
S
Li
Feng
F
Jin
Guang
G
Nagano
Isao
I
Shoji
Mikio
M
Miyazaki
Masahiro
M
Abe
Koji
K
Huh
Nam-Ho
NH
D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates / Q000378:metabolism; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000378:metabolism*; D037181:Lectins, C-Type; D008297:Male; D015428:Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / Q000378:metabolism; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D058580:Neurocan; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D037181:Lectins, C-Type; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D058580:Neurocan; C076817:NCAN protein, human; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates