title: Expression of calcineurin and its interacting proteins in epileptic fowl.
abstract: Calcineurin (CaN), a Ca2+-calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein phosphatase, is important for Ca2+-mediated signal transduction. The main objective of this study was to examine the potential role of CaN in epileptic brain and its involvement in neuronal apoptosis. We investigated CaN expression and its interaction with various signaling molecules in normal, carrier and epileptic brain tissues of chicken. Our results revealed higher Ca2+-CaM-dependent phosphatase activity of CaN and a correspondingly strong immunoreactive band of CaN A in epileptic and carrier brain samples compared with normal brain. Furthermore, immunohistochemical analysis showed a higher level of expression of CaN in epileptic brain tissue. However, the intensity of immunoreactivity was less in carrier than epileptic brain. We observed that the interaction of CaN with m-calpain and micro-calpain was strong in carrier and epileptic chickens compared with that in normal birds. In addition, the interaction of CaN with Bcl-2, caspase-3 and p53 was greater in carrier and epileptic fowl than in normal chickens. The greater interaction of CaN with various apoptotic factors in epileptic chickens adds to our understanding of the mechanism of CaN signaling in neuronal apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, College of Medicine and Health Research Division, Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
authors.forename: Ashakumary
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lakshmikuttyamma
authors.forename: Ponniah
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Selvakumar
authors.forename: Chandrashekhar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Charavaryamath
authors.forename: Baljit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tuchek
authors.forename: Rajendra K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019703:Calcineurin / Q000378:metabolism*; D002154:Calpain / Q000378:metabolism; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D002645:Chickens / Q000378:metabolism; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006579:Heterozygote; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000378:metabolism*; D011200:Poultry / Q000378:metabolism*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D019703:Calcineurin; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases; D002154:Calpain; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases; C449000:m-calpain; C449002:mu-calpain