• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제10권4호
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• pp.293-302
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• 2002

The classical concept for iron uptake into mammalian cells has been the endocytosis of transferrin( $T_{f}$ )-bound F $e^{3+}$ via the $T_{f}$ - $T_{f}$ receptor cycle. In this case, we could not explain the uptake of F $e^{2＋}$ ion and the export of iron from endosome. Studies on iron transport revealed that other transport system exists in epithelial cells of the intestine. One of non- $T_{f}$ -receptor-mediated transport systems is Nramp2/DMT1/DCT1 which transports M $n^{＋＋}$, $Mg^{＋＋}$, Z $n^{＋＋}$, $Co^{＋＋}$, N $i^{＋＋}$ or C $u^{＋＋}$ ion as well as F $e^{+2}$ ion. DMT1 was cloned from intestines of iron-deficient rats and shown to be a hydrogen ion-coupled iron transporter and a protein regulated by absorbed dietary iron. DMT1 is founded in other cells such as cortical and hippocampal glial cells as well as endothelial cells in duodenum. Two F $e^{3+}$ ion bound to transferrin( $T_{f}$ ) are taken up via the $T_{f}$ - $T_{f}$ receptor cycle in the intestinal epithelial cell. F $e^{3+}$ in endosome was converted to F $e^{2＋}$ ion, and then exported to cytosol via DMT1. F $e^{2＋}$ ion is taken up into cytosol via DMT1. Several other transporters such as FET, FRE, CCC2, AFT1, SMF, FTR, ZER, ZIP, ZnT and CTR have been reported recently and dysfunction of the transporters are related with diseases containing Wilson's disease, Menkes disease and hemochromatosis. Evidences from several studies strongly suggest that DMT1 is the major transporter of iron in the intestine and functions critically in transport of other metal ions.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제17권5호
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• pp.706-713
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• 2007

Scutellaria baicalensis GEORGI(SB) is used in oriental medicine for the treatment of incipient strokes. Although it has been reported that SB is neuroprotective in a hypoxia model, its mechanism is poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effect of SB on the modulation of heme oxygenase-1(HO-1), which has important biological roles in regulating mitochondrial heme protein turnover and in protecting against conditions such as hypoxia, neurodegenerative diseases, or sepsis. Rat cerebrocortical day In vitro(DIV)12 cells were grown in neurobasal medium. On DIV12 cells were treated with SB($20{\mu}g/ml$) and given a hypoxic shock ($2%\;O_2/5%\;CO_2,\;3\;hr$) on DIV14. In situ hybridization results revealed that SB upregulated HO-1 mRNA in neuronal dendrites in both normoxia and hypoxia(38.5% and 59.2%, respectively). At the protein level, SB upregulated HO-1 in the neuronal soma in both normoxia and hypoxia(22.4% and 15.7%, respectively). Interestingly, most significant increase was associated with astrocytes, which increased HO-1 protein by 77.5% compared to SB-untreated culture. These results indicate that SB upregulates both neuronal and glial HO-1 expression, which contributes to the neuroprotection efficacy in hypoxia).

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제53권6호
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• pp.337-341
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• 2013

Objective : After spinal cord injury (SCI), functional and structural reorganization occurs at multiple levels of brain including motor cortex. However, the underlying mechanism still remains unclear. The current study was performed to investigate the alterations in the expression of the main regulators of neuronal development, survival and death, in the brain following thoracic contusive SCI in a mouse model. Methods : Eight-week-old female imprinting control region mice (n=60; 30-35 g) were used in this study. We analyzed the expression levels of regulators such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) 1 in the brain following thoracic contusive SCI. Results : The expression of BDNF levels were elevated significantly compared with control group at 2 weeks after injury (p<0.05). The expression of NGF levels were elevated at 2, 4 weeks compared with control group, but these difference were not significant (p>0.05). The GDNF levels were elevated at 2 week compared with control group, but these differences were not significant (p>0.05). The difference of HDAC1 levels were not significant at 2, 4 and 8 weeks compared with control group (p>0.05). Conclusion : These results demonstrate that the upregulation of BDNF may play on important role in brain reorganization after SCI.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제25권6호
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• pp.565-574
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• 2021

Astrocytes are activated in response to brain damage. Here, we found that expression of Kir4.1, a major potassium channel in astrocytes, is increased in activated astrocytes in the injured brain together with upregulation of the neural stem cell markers, Sox2 and Nestin. Expression of Kir4.1 was also increased together with that of Nestin and Sox2 in neurospheres formed from dissociated P7 mouse brains. Using the Kir4.1 blocker BaCl₂ to determine whether Kir4.1 is involved in acquisition of stemness, we found that inhibition of Kir4.1 activity caused a concentration-dependent increase in sphere size and Sox2 levels, but had little effect on Nestin levels. Moreover, induction of differentiation of cultured neural stem cells by withdrawing epidermal growth factor and fibroblast growth factor from the culture medium caused a sharp initial increase in Kir4.1 expression followed by a decrease, whereas Sox2 and Nestin levels continuously decreased. Inhibition of Kir4.1 had no effect on expression levels of Sox2 or Nestin, or the astrocyte and neuron markers glial fibrillary acidic protein and β-tubulin III, respectively. Taken together, these results indicate that Kir4.1 may control gain of stemness but not differentiation of stem cells.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.178-184
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• 2019

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons within the substantia nigra pars compacta. In the present study, we investigated whether ${\beta}-Lapachone$ (${\beta}-LAP$), a natural naphthoquinone compound isolated from the lapacho tree (Tabebuia avellanedae), elicits neuroprotective effects in a 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced Parkinson's disease mouse model. ${\beta}-LAP$ reduced the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-immunoreactive fiber loss induced by MPTP in the dorsolateral striatum, and alleviated motor dysfunction as determined by the rotarod test. In addition, ${\beta}-LAP$ protected against MPTP-induced loss of TH positive neurons, and upregulated B-cell lymphoma 2 protein (Bcl-2) expression in the substantia nigra. Based on previous reports on the neuroprotective role of nuclear factor-E2-related factor-2 (Nrf2) in neurodegenerative diseases, we investigated whether ${\beta}-LAP$ induces upregulation of the Nrf2-hemeoxygenae-1 (HO-1) signaling pathway molecules in MPTP-injected mouse brains. Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses indicated that ${\beta}-LAP$ increased HO-1 expression in glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytes. Moreover, ${\beta}-LAP$ increased the nuclear translocation and DNA binding activity of Nrf2, and the phosphorylation of upstream adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK). ${\beta}-LAP$ also increased the localization of p-AMPK and Nrf2 in astrocytes. Collectively, our data suggest that ${\beta}-LAP$ exerts neuroprotective effect in MPTP-injected mice by upregulating the p-AMPK/Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathways in astrocytes.

• BMB Reports
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• 제55권10호
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• pp.512-517
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• 2022

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is brain damage which is caused by the impact of external mechanical forces. TBI can lead to the temporary or permanent impairment of physical and cognitive abilities, resulting in abnormal behavior. We recently observed that a single session of early exercise in animals with TBI improved their behavioral performance in the absence of other cognitive abnormalities. In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic effects of continuous exercise during the early stages of TBI in rats. We found that continuous low-intensity exercise in early-stage improves the locomotion recovery in the TBI of animal models; however, it does not significantly enhance short-term memory capabilities. Moreover, continuous early exercise not only reduces the protein expression of cerebral damage-related markers, such as Glial Fibrillary Acid Protein (GFAP), Neuron-Specific Enolase (NSE), S100β, Protein Gene Products 9.5 (PGP9.5), and Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP70), but it also decreases the expression of apoptosis-related protein BAX and cleaved caspase 3. Furthermore, exercise training in animals with TBI decreases the microglia activation and the expression of inflammatory cytokines in the serum, such as CCL20, IL-13, IL-1α, and IL-1β. These findings thus demonstrate that early exercise therapy for TBI may be an effective strategy in improving physiological function, and that serum protein levels are useful biomarkers for the predicition of the effectiveness of early exercise therapy.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.39-48
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• 2023

Spinal nerve injury causes mechanical allodynia and structural imbalance of neurotransmission, which were typically associated with calcium overload. Storeoperated calcium entry (SOCE) is considered crucial elements-mediating intracellular calcium homeostasis, ion channel activity, and synaptic plasticity. However, the underlying mechanism of SOCE in mediating neuronal transmitter release and synaptic transmission remains ambiguous in neuropathic pain. Neuropathic rats were operated by spinal nerve ligations. Neurotransmissions were assessed by whole-cell recording in substantia gelatinosa. Immunofluorescence staining of STIM1 with neuronal and glial biomarkers in the spinal dorsal horn. The endoplasmic reticulum stress level was estimated from qRT-PCR. Intrathecal injection of SOCE antagonist SKF96365 dose-dependently alleviated mechanical allodynia in ipsilateral hind paws of neuropathic rats with ED₅₀ of 18 ㎍. Immunofluorescence staining demonstrated that STIM1 was specifically and significantly expressed in neurons but not astrocytes and microglia in the spinal dorsal horn. Bath application of SKF96365 inhibited enhanced miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents in a dosage-dependent manner without affecting miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents. Mal-adaption of SOCE was commonly related to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in the central nervous system. SKF96365 markedly suppressed ER stress levels by alleviating mRNA expression of C/ EBP homologous protein and heat shock protein 70 in neuropathic rats. Our findings suggested that nerve injury might promote SOCE-mediated calcium levels, resulting in long-term imbalance of spinal synaptic transmission and behavioral sensitization, SKF96365 produces antinociception by alleviating glutamatergic transmission and ER stress. This work demonstrated the involvement of SOCE in neuropathic pain, implying that SOCE might be a potential target for pain management.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.101-112
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• 2015

자가밀착연접 단백질들은 세포, 특히 수초화된 신경교세포막의 층상구조 사이에 존재하는 밀착연접에 존재한다. 그들 중 일부는 다른 단백질의 C-말단의 PDZ 결합 모티프에 붙는 postsynaptic density-95/Disks large/Zonula occludens-1 (PDZ) 도메인을 가진다. PDZ domain은 박테리아, 식물, 세균, 후생동물, Drosophila에 존재하여 거대한 단백복합체를 형성할 수 있게 해준다. 이러한 단백복합체들은 세포 내 신호전달, 단백질 표적화, 그리고 세포막 극화 작용을 한다. ZO-1, ZO-2, AF-6, PATJ, MUPP1, PAR-3는 자가밀착연접에 존재한다고 확인되었다. PAR-3는 atypical protein kinase C와 PAR-6와 반응하여 세포의 극성 형성에 중요한 역할을 하는 3차원 단백질복합체를 형성하는데 이는 Caenorhabditis elegans와 Drosophila 종에서 척추동물에까지 보존되었다. MAGI2는 흥분성 시냅스에서 ${\alpha}$-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA) 수용체와 반응한다. PATJ는 claudin-1과 함께 마디곁 루프에서 발견되는 반면, MUPP1은 claudin-5와 함께 축삭사이막과 Schmidt-Lanterman 절흔에서 찾을 수 있다. ZO-1, ZO-2 그리고 PAR-3의 경우에는 세 장소 모두에서 발견된다. PDZ 도메인을 보유한 단백질들의 서로 다른 분포는 자가밀착연접의 발생에 영향을 준다. 이 총설에서는 수초화된 슈반 세포의 자가밀착연접에 존재하는 PDZ 도메인을 가진 단백질들과 그들의 기능을 알아볼 것이다.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제29권5호
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• pp.530-536
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• 2019

교모세포종은 형질 전환된 신경 교세포로부터 유래한 악성 종양이다. 교모세포종의 치료는 외과적 수술을 포함한 약물 및 방사선 치료를 통해 진행된다. 그러나 이러한 치료 과정이 환자의 예후에 크게 기여하지 못하는 실정이다. 교모세포종 치료의 어려움 중 하나로 뇌종양줄기세포의 존재를 들 수 있다. 주요하게 proneural (PN) 아형과 mesenchymal (MES) 아형으로 나누어지는 뇌종양줄기세포는 교모세포종의 발달, 유지 및 항암 치료 후 재발의 원인이 되는 암세포로 이해되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 PN 아형 뇌종양줄기세포들이 특정 사이토카인에 선택적으로 MES 아형으로 전이가 될 수 있다는 것에 중점을 두고 실험을 진행하였다. PN 아형 뇌종양줄기세포 중 GSC11 세포는 $TNF-{\alpha}$ 사이토카인에 의해, 그리고 GSC23 세포는 $TGF-{\beta}1$ 사이토카인에 노출이 될 때 MES 아형 뇌종양줄기세포의 표지 인자인 CD44의 발현 증가가 관찰되었다. 또한, Ivy Glioblastoma Atlas Project (Ivy GAP) 데이터 베이스를 통해, $TNF-{\alpha}$와 $TGF-{\beta}1$은 종양미세환경을 구성하는 요소 중 각각 괴사 부위와 미세혈관 주위에서 높은 발현을 보임을 확인하였다. 따라서 본 연구 결과는 PN 아형의 뇌종양줄기세포가 특정 종양미세환경에서 조절되는 다양한 종류의 사이토카인 신호에 의해 MES 아형으로의 전이가 결정될 수 있다는 가능성을 시사한다.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.263-271
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• 2001

교모세포종은 비교적 흔한 원발성 뇌종양이며 생물학적 특성상 빠른 성장률을 보이는 것 외에 침습성이 강하여 종양과 인접한 부분을 파괴 시킬 뿐 아니라 직접접촉하지 않는 부분의 파괴도 일어나게 되어 그 결과 치료 예후가 매우 불량한 것으로 되어 있다. 이러한 불량한 예후를 개선 시키기 위해서는 이들 종양의 침습에 대한 기전의 정확한 이해가 필요하며 이를 이용한 새로운 치료방법이 요구된다할 것이다. Protein kinase C(PKC)는 세포내 신호전달체제 과정에서 매우 중요한 역할을 하는 효소로 세포막 수용체 신호를 핵으로 전달하는 역할을 하며 세포내 여러 생물학적 작용이 알려져 있다. 본 실험은 종양침습과 연관하여 세포내 PKC가 어떠한 작용을 하는지에 대해서 악성교종 세포를 대상으로 하여 알아보고자 하였다. 따라서 PKC가 종양침습에 중요한 역할을 할 것이라는 가설을 세웠고 이 가설을 증명하기 위해 세포내 PKC농도를 길항제 및 촉진제를 이용하며 높고 낮게 조절함으로써 그에 따른 침습성의 변화를 살펴보았다. 방법으로는 교모세포종 세포주인 U-87 세포를 약제로 처리한 후 인위적으로 조절된 세포내의 PKC에 대해 효소의 활성도를 측정하였고 침습성은 matrigel artificial basement membrane assay 및 tumor spheroid fetal rat brain aggregate(FRBA) confrontation assay를 이용하여 측정하였다. 결과로 PKC의 길항제인 tamoxifen과 hypericin으로 처치한 세포는 PKC의 활성과 침습도가 모두 감소하였으며 이는 약제농도에 비례하여 나타났다. 반면 PKC 자극제인 TPA로 처치된 세포는 증가된 PKC 활성도나 침습도을 보이지 않았다. 이러한 결과를 종합해 보았을 때 PKC는 종양세포의 침습성에 중요한 역할을 함을 알 수 있었으며 PKC의 길항제는 종양 치료에 유용한 화학 요법 제가 될 수 있을 것으로 사료된다.