title: Metallothionein-3 and neuronal nitric oxide synthase levels in brains from the Tg2576 mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Using antiserum against the recombinant isoform 3 of mouse brain metallothionein (MT3), the amount of MT3 protein was determined in whole brain homogenates from the Tg2576 transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's Disease. Twenty-two month old transgenic positive mice showed a 27% decrease of MT3 normalized to the total protein in the extracts compared to same age, control transgenic negative mice. Metallothioneins bind seven molar equivalents of divalent metal ions per mole of protein so metal levels also were measured in these whole brain extracts using inductively coupled plasma atomic absorption (ICP-AA) spectrometry. No significant difference was observed for any metal assayed. Because neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) is involved in neurodegenerative disease and nitric oxide specifically interacts with MT3, the concentration and total nNOS activity also were evaluated. The transgenic positive mice showed a decrease of 28% in nNOS protein compared to the same age transgenic negative mice. Normalized to the amount of nNOS protein, total NOS activity was higher in the transgenic positive mice. These data showed that protein levels of both MT3 and nNOS were reduced in transgenic positive mice that show many characteristics of Alzheimer's Disease. In vitro studies suggested that MT3 was not a likely candidate for directly affecting nNOS activity in the brain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 55455, USA. marti285@umn.edu
authors.forename: Bruce L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Abigail M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Tokheim
authors.forename: Patrick T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Brendan S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Doms
authors.forename: Andrew A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Ian M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Armitage
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D000090023:Metallothionein 3; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism; D052248:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I / Q000378:metabolism*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D000090023:Metallothionein 3; C000715430:Mt3 protein, mouse; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D052248:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I; C496321:Nos1 protein, mouse