Unexpected expression of alpha- and beta-globin in mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons and glial cells.
The mesencephalic dopaminergic (mDA) cell system is composed of two major groups of projecting cells in the substantia nigra (SN) (A9 neurons) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA) (A10 cells). A9 neurons form the nigrostriatal pathway and are involved in regulating voluntary movements and postural reflexes. Their selective degeneration leads to Parkinson's disease. Here, we report that gene expression analysis of A9 dopaminergic neurons (DA) identifies transcripts for alpha- and beta-chains of hemoglobin (Hb). Globin immunoreactivity decorates the majority of A9 DA, a subpopulation of cortical and hippocampal astrocytes and mature oligodendrocytes. This pattern of expression was confirmed in different mouse strains and in rat and human. We show that Hb is expressed in the SN of human postmortem brain. By microarray analysis of dopaminergic cell lines overexpressing alpha- and beta-globin chains, changes in genes involved in O(2) homeostasis and oxidative phopshorylation were observed, linking Hb expression to mitochondrial function. Our data suggest that the most famed oxygen-carrying globin is not exclusively restricted to the blood, but it may play a role in the normal physiology of the brain and neurodegenerative diseases.
Biagioli
Marta
M
Sector of Neurobiology, International School for Advanced Studies, The Giovanni Armenise-Harvard Foundation Laboratory, and Consorzio per il Centro di Biomedicina Molecolare, AREA Science Park, Basovizza, 34012 Trieste, Italy.
Pinto
Milena
M
Cesselli
Daniela
D
Zaninello
Marta
M
Lazarevic
Dejan
D
Roncaglia
Paola
P
Simone
Roberto
R
Vlachouli
Christina
C
Plessy
Charles
C
Bertin
Nicolas
N
Beltrami
Antonio
A
Kobayashi
Kazuto
K
Gallo
Vittorio
V
Santoro
Claudio
C
Ferrer
Isidro
I
Rivella
Stefano
S
Beltrami
Carlo Alberto
CA
Carninci
Piero
P
Raviola
Elio
E
Gustincich
Stefano
S
D000818:Animals; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D051381:Rats; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000166:cytology*; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000166:cytology*; D055542:alpha-Globins / Q000378:metabolism*; D055544:beta-Globins / Q000378:metabolism*
D055542:alpha-Globins; D055544:beta-Globins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins