Focal Cerebral Ischemia Induces Decrease of Astrocytic Phosphoprotein PEA-15 in Brain Tissue and HT22 Cells / 한국실험동물학회지

ABSTRACT

PEA-15 is a small phosphoprotein (15 kDa) that is enriched in brain astrocytes. PEA-15 acts as an important modulator of cellular function including apoptosis and signal integration. This study investigated the expression of PEA-15 in focal cerebral ischemic injury. Cerebral ischemia was surgically induced in adult male rats by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), and brains were collected 24 hr after MCAO. A proteomic approach demonstrated decreases of PEA-15 protein spots in MCAO-operated animals in comparison to sham-operated animals. Western blot analysis clearly demonstrated that MCAO induces decreases in PEA-15 levels. We previously showed that glutamate toxicity induces cell death in a hippocampus-derived cell line (HT22). Glutamate exposure induces decreases of PEA-15 levels in HT22 cells. The results of this study suggest that focal cerebral ischemia induces cell death through downregulation of PEA-15 protein.