title: Calcineurin is involved in the early activation of NMDA-mediated cell death in mutant huntingtin knock-in striatal cells.
abstract: Excitotoxicity has been proposed as one of the mechanisms involved in the specific loss of striatal neurons that occurs in Huntington's disease. Here, we studied the role of calcineurin in the vulnerability of striatal neurons expressing mutant huntingtin to excitotoxicity. To this end, we induced excitotoxicity by adding NMDA to a striatal precursor cell line expressing full-length wild-type (STHdh(Q7/Q7)) or mutant (STHdh(Q111/Q111)) huntingtin. We observed that cell death appeared earlier in STHdh(Q111/Q111) cells than in STHdh(Q7/Q7) cells. Interestingly, these former cells expressed higher levels of calcineurin A that resulted in a greater increase of its activity after NMDA receptor stimulation. Moreover, transfection of full-length mutant huntingtin in different striatal-derived cells (STHdh(Q7/Q7), M213 and primary cultures) increased calcineurin A protein levels. To determine whether high levels of calcineurin A might account for the earlier activation of cell death in mutant huntingtin knock-in cells, wild-type cells were transfected with calcineurin A. Calcineurin A-transfected STHdh(Q7/Q7) cells displayed a significant increase in cell death compared with that recorded in green fluorescent protein-transfected cells after NMDA treatment. Notably, addition of the calcineurin inhibitor FK-506 produced a more robust reduction in cell death in mutant huntingtin knock-in cells than it did in wild-type cells. These results suggest that high levels of calcineurin A could account for the increased vulnerability of striatal cells expressing mutant huntingtin to excitotoxicity.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xifró
authors.forename: Juan Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: García-Martínez
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Del Toro
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alberch
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pérez-Navarro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019703:Calcineurin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D000071058:Huntingtin Protein; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009154:Mutation; D016202:N-Methylaspartate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C506812:Htt protein, mouse; D000071058:Huntingtin Protein; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D016202:N-Methylaspartate; D019703:Calcineurin