title: The effect of cadmium on brain cells in culture.
abstract: Cadmium is a long-living heavy metal, abundantly present in the environment, which accumulates in the body. In this study, we investigated the effects of cadmium on the expression of molecular chaperones, and of certain cell-specific proteins, in a variety of brain cell types in culture, namely primary cultures of rat cortical neurons and astrocytes, a brain capillary endothelial cell line (RB4E.B cells), and pheochromocytoma cells (PC12), induced or not to differentiate by NGF treatment. The metal induces a dose-dependent increase of Hsp70 in all cell types. Responses to the metal are cell-specific in the case of Hsc70 and Hsp90: i) in astrocytes, as well as in PC12 cells, cadmium has no significant effect; ii) in endothelial cells, an increase of both proteins is clearly observable from 20 microM cadmium; iii) both Hsp90 and Hsc70 decrease in neurons treated with high doses of cadmium. Damage to the cytoskeleton in treated cells was also evident. Finally, we report that the metal at high doses induces a decrease of PIPPin (also known as CSD-C2), a putative RNA-binding protein highly expressed in neurons and probably involved in the regulation of histone replacement variant expression.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia Cellulare e dello Sviluppo, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gerspacher
authors.forename: Urs
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Scheuber
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schiera
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Proia
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gygax
authors.forename: Italia
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Di Liegro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D002104:Cadmium / Q000633:toxicity*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D048430:Cell Shape / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000378:metabolism; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000378:metabolism; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor / Q000494:pharmacology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D016716:PC12 Cells; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: C097845:Csdc2 protein, rat; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D002104:Cadmium; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor