Isolation and cloning of a voltage-dependent anion channel-like Mr 36,000 polypeptide from mammalian brain.

A polypeptide of M(r) 36,000 (36 kDa) was isolated from detergent-solubilized membrane fractions of mammalian brain on a benzodiazepine affinity column utilized for the purification of the gamma-aminobutyric acid/benzodiazepine receptor protein, followed by preparative gel electrophoresis. Partial protein sequence for two fragments of the 36-kDa polypeptide allowed the isolation of cDNA clones from a rat hippocampal library. An open reading frame coding a sequence of 295 amino acid residues containing the two probe peptide sequences with minor differences, and a putative N-terminal signal peptide of 25 residues was found. Hydropathy index revealed no regions of alpha-helix suitable for membrane spanning, but several areas of alternating hydrophilic and hydrophobic residues consistent with beta-strands. The sequence of this brain protein was 24% identical to that of a yeast mitochondrial protein, the voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC), and over 70% identical with the VDAC from human B lymphocytes. The gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor/36-kDa preparation purified on benzodiazepine affinity column has channel-forming activity in lipid bilayer membranes that is virtually identical to VDAC isolated from mitochondria of various sources, indicating that the 36-kDa protein is a new member of the VDAC family of proteins. An antiserum raised against the purified 36-kDa polypeptide was able to precipitate [3H]muscimol binding activity, indicating a tight association with the GABAA receptor protein in vitro and copurification on the benzodiazepine affinity column due to this association. Further studies are needed to determine whether such an association occurs in vivo.

Neuron-glia relationships in human and experimental epilepsy: a biochemical point of view.

The generation of focal cortical epilepsy as observed in human partial complex seizures is presumably due to enhanced physiologic responses or paroxysmal depolarization shifts (PDSs). However, the molecular mechanism that underlies these phenomena remains unknown. It could be due to a genetically determined error in a structural or regulatory protein or to posttranslational events that modulate membrane excitability. Since neither neuronal PDSs or interictal EEG spikes are sufficient to produce clinical epilepsy, the clinical expression of epilepsy may need the breakdown of neuronal or glial mechanisms that limit the spread of seizures. Hence, biochemical membrane studies of neurons and glia are necessary to understand the expression of human and experimental epilepsy. This chapter will review the role of glia in controlling neuronal excitability and neuron-glia relationships in experimental and human epilepsy. Data exploring the hypothesis that glial control of extracellular K+ or (K+)o is deficient in focal epilepsy induced by cold lesions will be reviewed. The role of glial carbonic anhydrase (CA) and glial control of putative amino acid transmitters in audiogenic epilepsy will be discussed. In the cold lesion, (K+)o activation constants of synaptosomal (Na+,K+)-ATPase are significantly decreased in the actively firing chronic focus, suggesting that the apparent affinity of the synaptosomal enzyme for K+ was increased within epileptic tissue that was actively firing. Interestingly, while sustained focal paroxysms could raise synaptosomal (Na+,K+)-ATPase, glial (Na+,K+)-ATPase and its activation by (K+)o remained decreased during sustained paroxysms in both acute and chronic lesions. Moreover, while the decrease of the absolute level of glial enzyme activity was less evident 45 days after lesion production, the poor response of glial enzyme to (K+)o never reversed to "normal" values. Hence, these experiments provided new information that glial (Na+,K+)-ATPase responds to K+ in a different manner when compared to synaptic enzyme. Glial ATPase and its activation by (K+)o remain decreased in either actively discharging acute lesions or in the indolent chronic foci. This could mean a reduction in the ability of glial membranes to maintain (K+)o homeostasis. As already suggested by Dichter, the impairment in glial control of elevated (K+)o could be mainly responsible for the transition of interictal discharges to ictal episodes, within the primary and the secondary foci.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)