ABSTRACT
Evidence suggests overactivation of NMDA-type glutamate receptors (NMDARs) contributes to selective degeneration of medium-sized spiny striatal neurons in Huntington's disease (HD). Here we determined whether expression of huntingtin containing the polyglutamine expansion augments NMDAR-mediated excitotoxicity. HEK293 cells coexpressing mutant huntingtin (htt-138Q) and either NR1A/NR2A- or NR1A/NR2B-type NMDARs exposed to 1 mM NMDA showed a significant increase in excitotoxic cell death compared to controls (cells coexpressing htt-15Q or GFP), but the difference was larger for NR1A/NR2B. Moreover, agonist-dependent cell death showed apoptotic features for cells coexpressing htt-138Q and NR1A/NR2B, but not for cells expressing htt-138Q and NR1A/NR2A. Further, NR1A/NR2B-mediated apoptosis was not seen with coexpression of an N-terminal fragment of mutant htt. Since NR1A/NR2B is the predominant NMDAR subtype in neostriatal medium-sized spiny neurons, enhancement of NMDA-induced apoptotic death in NR1A/NR2B-expressing cells by full-length mutant htt may contribute to selective neurodegeneration in HD.
Subject(s)
Cell Death/drug effects , Huntington Disease/etiology , Mutation , Nerve Tissue Proteins/metabolism , Nerve Tissue Proteins/toxicity , Nuclear Proteins/metabolism , Nuclear Proteins/toxicity , Apoptosis/genetics , Cell Death/genetics , Cell Line , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists/toxicity , Genes, Reporter , Green Fluorescent Proteins , Humans , Huntingtin Protein , Huntington Disease/genetics , Kidney/cytology , Kidney/drug effects , Kidney/metabolism , Luminescent Proteins/genetics , N-Methylaspartate/toxicity , Nerve Tissue Proteins/genetics , Nuclear Proteins/genetics , Peptide Fragments/genetics , Peptide Fragments/metabolism , Peptide Fragments/toxicity , Protein Isoforms/genetics , Protein Isoforms/metabolism , Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate/genetics , Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate/metabolism , Transfection , beta-Galactosidase/geneticsABSTRACT
Zinc has been shown to be present in synaptic vesicles of a subset of glutamatergic boutons and is believed to be core-leased with glutamate at these synapses. A variety of studies have suggested that zinc might play a role in modulation of excitatory transmission, as well as excitotoxicity, by inhibiting N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-type glutamate receptors. To further investigate the modulatory effects of zinc on NMDA receptors of different subunit compositions, we coexpressed the recombinant subunit NR1 with NR2A and/or NR2B in HEK 293 cells. In whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from these transfected cells, zinc inhibited peak glutamate-evoked current responses in a noncompetitive manner, but there were significant differences between the receptor subtypes in sensitivity to zinc inhibition. For NR1/NR2A, approximately 40% of the peak current was inhibited by zinc in a voltage-independent manner with an IC50 value of 5.0 +/- 1.6 nM and at a V(H) value of -60 mV; the remainder was blocked at a second, voltage-dependent site with an IC50 value of 79 +/- 18 microM. In contrast, NR1/NR2B currents showed nearly complete inhibition at a voltage-independent site with an IC50 value of 9.5 +/- 3.3 microM. Cells cotransfected with NR1, NR2A, and NR2B showed zinc sensitivity intermediate between that characteristic of NR1/NR2A and that of NR1/NR2B. Furthermore, zinc accelerated the macroscopic desensitization of both NR1/NR2A and NR1/NR2B in a dose-dependent manner, apparently independently of glycine-sensitive desensitization and Ca2(+)-dependent inactivation; maximal effects were to decrease desensitization time constants for NR1/NR2A by approximately 75% and for NR1/NR2B by approximately 90%. Differential modulation of NR1/NR2A and NR1/NR2B currents by zinc may play a role in regulating NMDA receptor-induced synaptic plasticity and neurotoxicity.
Subject(s)
Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate/antagonists & inhibitors , Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate/physiology , Zinc/pharmacology , Animals , Binding Sites , Brain/physiology , Brain/ultrastructure , Cells, Cultured , Electrophysiology , Glutamic Acid/metabolism , Glutamic Acid/pharmacology , Mice , Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate/classification , Recombinant Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors , Recombinant Proteins/classification , Sensitivity and Specificity , Transfection , Zinc/metabolism , Zinc/physiologyABSTRACT
Excessive activation of glutamate receptors is thought to play a critical role in neuronal excitotoxicity. To compare the cytotoxic potential of different glutamate receptor subtypes and correlate receptor biophysical properties with cytotoxicity, we have expressed recombinant receptors in human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK-293) cells. Survival of transfected cells was analyzed under conditions of defined agonist concentration and exposure time. For HEK-293 cells transfected with N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, the EC50 for NMDA-induced cytotoxicity was 300 microM. Experiments using ion substitution, or cells expressing mutant NMDA receptors with low calcium permeability, suggested that both calcium and sodium influx through NMDA receptors contributed to cytotoxicity. In contrast, cytotoxicity was not observed in cells transfected with calcium permeable alpha-amino 3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate- or kainate-type glutamate receptors even at saturating agonist concentrations, unless inhibitors of agonist-dependent desensitization were included. These results directly demonstrate that calcium permeability and desensitization kinetics play important roles in determining the excitotoxic potential of different glutamate receptor subtypes.
