title: Valproic Acid Regulates α-Synuclein Expression through JNK Pathway in Rat Primary Astrocytes.
abstract: Although the role of α-synuclein aggregation on Parkinson's disease is relatively well known, the physiological role and the regulatory mechanism governing the expression of α-synuclein are unclear yet. We recently reported that α-synuclein is expressed and secreted from cultured astrocytes. In this study, we investigated the effect of valproic acid (VPA), which has been suggested to provide neuroprotection by increasing α-synuclein in neuron, on α-synuclein expression in rat primary astrocytes. VPA concentrationdependently increased the protein expression level of α-synuclein in cultured rat primary astrocytes with concomitant increase in mRNA expression level. Likewise, the level of secreted α-synuclein was also increased by VPA. VPA increased the phosphorylation of Erk1/2 and JNK and pretreatment of a JNK inhibitor SP600125 prevented the VPA-induced increase in α-synuclein. Whether the increased α-synuclein in astrocytes is involved in the reported neuroprotective effects of VPA awaits further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701 ; Center for Neuroscience Research, SMART Institute Advanced Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701.
authors.forename: Jung Nam
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Min Kyeong
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kyu Suk
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Chang Soon
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Seung Hwa
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sung-Il
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: So Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Joo
authors.forename: Jin Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Geonho
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bahn
authors.forename: Chan Young
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: He-Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Seol-Heui
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Kyoung Ja
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Kwon
keywords: Acetylation; JNK; Neuroprotection; Stability; Valproic acid; α-synuclein