Exposure of rats to environmental tobacco smoke during cerebellar development alters behavior and perturbs mitochondrial energetics.

BACKGROUND: Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure is linked to developmental deficits and disorders with known cerebellar involvement. However, direct biological effects and underlying neurochemical mechanisms remain unclear. OBJECTIVES: We sought to identify and evaluate underlying neurochemical change in the rat cerebellum with ETS exposure during critical period development. METHODS: We exposed rats to daily ETS (300, 100, and 0 µg/m3 total suspended particulate) from postnatal day 8 (PD8) to PD23 and then assayed the response at the behavioral, neuroproteomic, and cellular levels. RESULTS: Postnatal ETS exposure induced heightened locomotor response in a novel environment on par initially with amphetamine stimulation. The cerebellar mitochondrial subproteome was significantly perturbed in the ETS-exposed rats. Findings revealed a dose-dependent up-regulation of aerobic processes through the modification and increased translocation of Hk1 to the mitochondrion with corresponding heightened ATP synthase expression. ETS exposure also induced a dose-dependent increase in total Dnm1l mitochondrial fission factor; although more active membrane-bound Dnm1l was found at the lower dose. Dnm1l activation was associated with greater mitochondrial staining, particularly in the molecular layer, which was independent of stress-induced Bcl-2 family dynamics. Further, electron microscopy associated Dnm1l-mediated mitochondrial fission with increased biogenesis, rather than fragmentation. CONCLUSIONS: The critical postnatal period of cerebellar development is vulnerable to the effects of ETS exposure, resulting in altered behavior. The biological effect of ETS is underlain in part by a Dnm1l-mediated mitochondrial energetic response at a time of normally tight control. These findings represent a novel mechanism by which environmental exposure can impact neurodevelopment and function.

Effects of environmental tobacco smoke on adult rat brain biochemistry.

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has been linked to deleterious health effects, particularly pulmonary and cardiac disease; yet, the general public considers ETS benign to brain function in adults. In contrast, epidemiological data have suggested that ETS impacts the brain and potentially modulates neurodegenerative disease. The present study begins to examine yet unknown biochemical effects of ETS on the adult mammalian brain. In the developed animal model, adult male rats were exposed to ETS 3 h a day for 3 weeks. Biochemical data showed altered glial fibrillary acid protein levels as a main treatment effect of ETS, suggestive of reactive astrogliosis. Yet, markers of oxidative and cell stress were unaffected by ETS exposure in the brain regions examined. Increased proteolytic degradation of alphaII-spectrin by caspase-3 and the dephosphorylation of serine(116) on PEA-15 indicated greater apoptotic cell death modulated by the extrinsic pathway in the brains of ETS-exposed animals. Further, beta-synuclein was upregulated by ETS, a neuroprotective protein previously reported to exhibit anti-apoptotic and anti-fibrillogenic properties. These findings demonstrate that ETS exposure alters the neuroproteome of the adult rat brain, and suggest modulation of inflammatory and cell death processes.

Separation of the neuroproteome by ion exchange chromatography.

Ion exchange chromatography is a fractionation technique applicable to the separation of brain-derived proteins based on charge. Proteome complexity overwhelms analytical approaches, which is mitigated by fractioning samples into simpler solutions. In this chapter we will cover the design, optimization, and execution of an ion exchange experiment for the separation of a brain lysate. Furthermore, helpful tips and pitfall will be revealed to aid with potential problems that may arise. The discussed proteomic methodology is applicable to multidimensional separations ahead of bottom-up or top-down proteomic strategies for characterizing the neuroproteome.

Novel neuroproteomic approaches to studying traumatic brain injury.

Neuroproteomics entails wide-scope study of the nervous system proteome in both its content and dynamics. The field employs high-end analytical mass spectrometry and novel high-throughput antibody approaches to characterize as many proteins as possible. The most common application has been differential analysis to identify a limited set of highly dynamic proteins associated with injury, disease, or other altered states of the nervous system. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an important neurological condition where neuroproteomics has revolutionized the characterization of protein dynamics, leading to a greater understanding of post-injury biochemistry. Further, proteins of altered abundance or post-translational modifications identified by neuroproteomic studies are candidate biochemical markers of TBI. This chapter explores the use of neuroproteomics in the study of TBI and the validation of identified putative biomarkers for subsequent clinical translation into novel injury diagnostics.