title: Expression of Nemo-like kinase after spinal cord injury in rats.
abstract: Wnt can induce signal transduction via the canonical pathway, which was involved in many processes in the nervous system. Nemo-like kinase (NLK) acts as a negative regulator of β-catenin/T-cell factor/lymphoid enhancer factor (LEF) and functions downstream of transforming growth factor β-activated kinase-1 in the Wnt signaling pathway. In this study, we performed a spinal cord injury (SCI) test in adult Sprague-Dawley rats and investigated the dynamic changes and role of NLK expression in the spinal cord. Western blot analysis revealed that NLK expression was low in normal spinal cord. It then increased markedly, peaked at 3 days, and declined to basal levels from 5 days after injury. Immunohistochemistry confirmed that NLK immunoactivity was expressed at low levels in gray and white matter under normal conditions and increased prominently in gray matter after the SCI test. Double immunofluorescent staining for NLK, caspase-3, β-catenin, and NeuN (neuronal nuclei) revealed that NLK and β-catenin were markedly increased and colocalized in apoptotic neurons. Coimmunoprecipitation data demonstrated that overexpression of NLK protein reduced β-catenin binding to LEF-1. Our results suggested that NLK was associated with neuronal apoptosis through attenuating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway after SCIs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dawei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Xinhui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Zhiming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cui
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D034961:Antigens, Nuclear / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017209:Apoptosis; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051821:Lymphoid Enhancer-Binding Factor 1 / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000378:metabolism*; D060449:Wnt Signaling Pathway; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D034961:Antigens, Nuclear; C497575:Lef1 protein, rat; D051821:Lymphoid Enhancer-Binding Factor 1; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C546339:Rbfox3 protein, rat; D051176:beta Catenin; C586674:NLK protein, rat; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D053148:Caspase 3