title: Increases in the phosphorylated form of caveolin-1 in the spinal cord of rats with clip compression injury.
abstract: The phosphorylation of caveolin-1, a lipid raft protein, alters cell shape, which is an important finding in the activation and migration of inflammatory cells. We studied the level of the phosphorylated form of caveolin-1 (p-caveolin-1) in the spinal cord of rats with a clip compression injury to determine whether the phosphorylation of caveolin-1 is involved in the pathogenesis of spinal cord injury. Spinal cords, sampled on days 0, 1, 4, 7, and 14 post-injury, were analyzed by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. Western blot analysis showed that the level of p-caveolin-1 significantly increased in the spinal cord at day 4 post-injury compared to the sham-operated control (p<0.05), and its increased level remained in the elevated condition until day 14 post-injury. Immunohistochemistry showed that p-caveolin-1 was mainly localized in the macrophages/activated microglia in the injured spinal cords, even though caveolin-1 was immunodetected in neurons and reactive astrocytes as well as in inflammatory macrophages. Considering these findings, we postulated that the increased level of p-caveolin-1 is involved in intracellular signaling in affected cells, particularly macrophages/activated microglia, in the course of rat spinal cord injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, Cheju National University, Jeju 690-756, South Korea. shint@cheju.ac.kr
authors.forename: Taekyun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western / Q000379:methods; D051242:Caveolin 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D053331:Ectodysplasins / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D037102:Lectins / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D051242:Caveolin 1; D053331:Ectodysplasins; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D037102:Lectins