title: The role of Homer1b/c in neuronal apoptosis following LPS-induced neuroinflammation.
abstract: Homer, also designated Vesl, is one member of the newly found postsynaptic density scaffold proteins, playing a vital role in maintaining synaptic integrity, regulating intracellular calcium mobilization, and being critical for the regulation of cellular apoptosis. However, its function in the inflamed central nervous system (CNS) is not fully elucidated. Here, we investigated the role of Homer1b/c, a long form of Homer1, in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced neuroinflammation in CNS. Western blot analysis indicated that LPS administration significantly increased the expression of Homer1b/c in rat brain. Moreover, double immunofluorescent staining suggested Homer1b/c was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm of neurons and had a close association with cleaved caspase-3 level in neurons in rat brain after LPS injection. In vitro studies indicated that up-regulation of Homer1b/c might be related to the subsequent apoptosis in neurons treated by conditioned media (CM), collected from LPS-stimulated mixed glial cultures (MGC). We also found down-regulation of Homer1b/c partly blocked the increase of cleaved caspase-3 and the proportion of Bax/Bcl-2 in neurons induced by MGC-CM. Taken together, these findings suggested that Homer1b/c might promote neuronal apoptosis via the Bax/Bcl-2 dependent pathway during neuroinflammation in CNS, and inhibiting Homer1b/c expression might provide a novel neuroprotective strategy against the inflammation-related neuronal apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory for Inflammation and Molecular Drug Target, Nantong University, Nantong, 226002, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhiming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Guanghui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Xinmin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yaohua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Xiaopeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Zhiyun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ben
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Dongmei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000072233:Homer Scaffolding Proteins; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008297:Male; D009443:Neuritis / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology*; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D016207:Cytokines; D000072233:Homer Scaffolding Proteins; C000606624:Homer1 protein, rat; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides