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Elevated Levels of Retinal Neurofilament mRNA Accompany Optic Nerve Regeneration
Author(s) -
Tesser Paul,
Jones Paul S.,
Schechter Nisson
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1986.tb00745.x
Subject(s) - neurofilament , optic nerve , regeneration (biology) , retina , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , messenger rna , axon , biochemistry , anatomy , neuroscience , immunohistochemistry , gene , immunology
RNA isolated from goldfish retinas before and during optic nerve regeneration, when translated in vitro, directed the synthesis of neurofilament proteins that are normally found in high levels in the optic nerve. The major neurofilament proteins of the goldfish optic nerve comprise a group of four isoelectric variants of molecular weight 58,000 (58K) which we have identified previously as ON 1 ‐ON 4 . The levels of ON 1 and ON 2 within the optic nerve had been shown to decrease shortly after optic nerve crush and then increase to precrush levels during the regeneration process. Employing two‐dimensional electrophoretic analysis of in vitro translation products and immunoprecipitations with antibodies specific for the ON proteins and an anti‐intermediate filament monoclonal antibody, we show that ON 1 and ON 2 are encoded by mRNA synthesized in the retinas. The synthesis of ON 3 and ON 4 by retina RNA was undetected. This confirms data from previous ex vivo experiments that indicated that ON 1 and ON 2 are of neuronal origin whereas ON 3 and ON 4 are nonneuronal. ON 1 and ON 2 synthesis increases dramatically during optic nerve regeneration to levels 10‐ and 30‐fold over precrush levels, respectively. In addition to ON, and ON 2 , the synthesis of a previously unidentified 52K protein is observed at relatively high levels 20 and 32 days after optic nerve crush, but is unobserved before regeneration. Thus, optic nerve regeneration can be correlated with specific changes in intermediate filament gene expression within the retina.