ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of Alzheimer' s beta-amyloid (Aβ) on the production and the translocation in cytoplasm of retinoid receptor-α (RXRα). MethodsN2awt cells were treated with Aβ peptide or amyloid protein precursor(APP695) transfection. The nucleus were separated from the cytoplasm by kit. The quantity of RXRα in the nucleus and cytoplasm was detected by Westernblot. The translocation of RXRα in the nucleus and cytoplasm of above N2awt cells or of the cortex cells in the brains of Alzheimer' s disease (AD) patients and their normal control groups was observed by immune fluorescence. ResultsIn N2awt cells, the increasing APP or Aβ had no significant effect on the production of RXRα but resulted in RXRα exporting into cytoplasm, the ratio of RXRα in cytoplasm increased from 3.2％ (in control group) to 17.6％ (in APP+ group) and from 3.8％ (in control group) to 14.3％ (in Aβ + group) respectively; compared with normal cortex cells, the translocation of RXRα in the cytoplasm of the cortex cells in the brains of AD increased significantly. ConclusionAβ may affect RXRα exporting into cytoplasm.