Increased ER stress during motor neuron degeneration in a transgenic mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which plays important roles in apoptosis, is susceptible to oxidative stress. ER stress is also thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, we investigated whether ER stress is involved in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using the anterior part of the lumbar spinal cord of transgenic mice carrying a mutation (G93A) in the superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene. Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses demonstrated that the expressions of p-PERK and p-eIF2alpha were increased in the microsome fraction (P3) of the lumbar spinal cord at the pre-symptomatic age of 12 weeks (12W), while the expression of activated caspase-12 was increased in the cytoplasmic fraction (S3) of the lumbar spinal cord at both the pre-symptomatic age of 12W and the late symptomatic age of 20W. In contrast, GRP78 did not show any increases in the microsome fraction (P3) of the lumbar spinal cord at either the pre-symptomatic or symptomatic ages. Thus, the present results strongly suggest that the balance between anti- and pro-apoptotic proteins related to ER stress is impaired from the pre-symptomatic stage in this ALS mouse model, and that this imbalance may be related to the pathogenesis of motor neuron degeneration in ALS.
Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama University, Japan. ktnagata@cc.okayama-u.ac.jp
Tetsuya
T
Nagata
Hristelina
H
Ilieva
Tetsuro
T
Murakami
Mito
M
Shiote
Hisashi
H
Narai
Yasuyuki
Y
Ohta
Takeshi
T
Hayashi
Mikio
M
Shoji
Koji
K
Abe
D000367:Age Factors; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D053454:Caspase 12 / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000502:physiology*; D000091342:Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone BiP; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000378:metabolism; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000209:etiology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000235:genetics; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D019892:eIF-2 Kinase / Q000378:metabolism
D053454:Caspase 12; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D000091342:Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone BiP; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D014157:Transcription Factors; D019892:eIF-2 Kinase; C103652:Elf2 protein, mouse; C000717248:Hspa5 protein, mouse; C109415:SOD1 G93A protein