title: Expressions and possible roles of GDNF receptors in the developing dopaminergic neurons.
abstract: Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) has an essential role in the survival and maturation of the dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) of mammalian embryonic brain. In addition to Ret, cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) were also proposed to function as transmembrane signaling receptors of GDNF. The present study was to investigate whether these transmembrane receptors of GDNF were correlated with the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression of SN DA neurons during early developmental stage. RT-PCR and Western blot were performed to detect TH expression in SN of perinatal rats at mRNA and protein level respectively; meanwhile, Western blot was performed to detect the expressions of the transmembrane proteins including Ret, neural cell adhesion molecule-140 (NCAM-140), integrin β1 and N-cadherin. The results showed that TH mRNA expression was positively correlated with both Ret and N-cadherin protein, while there was no correlation with NCAM-140 and integrin β1; TH protein expression was correlated with all of these transmembrane molecules. These data suggested that the expression of either TH mRNA or TH protein was subject to the mediation of different transmembrane receptor combinations of GDNF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and Human Anatomy, Xuzhou Medical College, 84 West Huaihai Road, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221002, PR China.
authors.forename: Jun Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Fu Zhen
authors.initials: FZ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yuan Yuan
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Hong Hua
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Zheng Quan
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Dian Shuai
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D015816:Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal / Q000378:metabolism; D002452:Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000502:physiology*; D051097:Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Receptors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019012:Integrin beta1 / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D015816:Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal; D051097:Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Receptors; D019012:Integrin beta1; C507071:NCAM140, rat; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret; C495001:Ret protein, rat