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Increased expression of prohormone convertase‐2 in the irradiated rat brain
Author(s) -
Noel Florence,
Gumin Glenice J.,
Raju Uma,
Tofilon Philip J.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.12.15.1725
Subject(s) - prohormone convertase , gene expression , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , rna , complementary dna , central nervous system , neuropeptide , prohormone , gene , endocrinology , biochemistry , receptor , hormone
ABSTRACT Changes in gene expression have been suggested to play a role in radiotherapy‐induced central nervous system (CNS) injury. To begin to identify radiation‐inducible genes in the CNS, we have applied the differential display of reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction products to RNA extracted from the brain of adult rats. RNA was isolated from a rat brain 6 h after whole‐body exposure to 10 Gy and compared with RNA from unirradiated brain. A cDNA band was consistently observed at about 600 bp in samples from the irradiated rat but not from unirradiated (control) rat. Amplification and sequencing of the cDNA revealed that it corresponded to the prohormone convertase‐2 ( PC2 ) gene, which is involved in the processing of inert prohormones and neuropeptides to their bioactive forms. Enhanced PC2 expression was detected after irradiation of neuronal cultures but not in cultures of astrocytes, suggesting that the cell type in the CNS responsible for the PC2 induction after in vivo irradiation is the neuron. These results indicate that radiation induces the expression of a neuronal enzyme that is critical to the activation of a number of prohormones and neuropeptides, which may influence the radioresponse of the CNS.—Noel, F., Gumin, G. J., Raju, U., Tofilon, P. J. Increased expression of prohormone convertase‐2 in the irradiated rat brain. FASEB J. 12, 1725–1730 (1998)