TY - JOUR
T1 - Age-related changes in expression of metallothionein-III in rat brain
AU - Miyazaki, Ikuko
AU - Asanuma, Masato
AU - Higashi, Youichirou
AU - Sogawa, Chiharu
AU - Tanaka, Ken Ichi
AU - Ogawa, Norio
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Area and for Scientific Research (C) from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and by Grants-in Aid for Comprehensive Research on Aging and Health, and for Research on Specific Diseases from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. The authors thank Dr I. Hozumi for his suggestions to provide the anti-MT-III rabbit polyclonal antibody.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - Metallothionein (MT)-III is a metal binding protein, called growth inhibitory factor, and is mainly expressed in the central nervous system. Since MT-III decreases in the brain of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a growing interest has been focused on its relationship to neurodegenerative diseases. To clarify age-related changes in the MT-III expression and its inducibility against oxidative stress, we analyzed the expression of MT-III and its mRNA in the brain of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated aged rats. In the frontal cortex, basal expression of MT-III mRNA was significantly increased with aging, while it was observed no induction of MT-III mRNA against LPS administration in the aged rat brain. MT-III immunopositive cells were increased in the frontal, parietal and piriform cortices, hypothalamus and amygdaloid nucleus with aging. The LPS treatment induced MT-III expression in the brain of young-adult rats, but not in the aged rat brain. Furthermore, the MT-III induction with LPS treatment was mainly observed in oligodendrocyte and microglia. In the present study, we showed that inducibility of brain MT-III against oxidative stress may be reduced with aging. Since it has been reported that MT-III has neuroprotective roles as an antioxidant, present results suggest that MT-III is closely related to the neurodegeneration in the aged animals.
AB - Metallothionein (MT)-III is a metal binding protein, called growth inhibitory factor, and is mainly expressed in the central nervous system. Since MT-III decreases in the brain of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a growing interest has been focused on its relationship to neurodegenerative diseases. To clarify age-related changes in the MT-III expression and its inducibility against oxidative stress, we analyzed the expression of MT-III and its mRNA in the brain of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated aged rats. In the frontal cortex, basal expression of MT-III mRNA was significantly increased with aging, while it was observed no induction of MT-III mRNA against LPS administration in the aged rat brain. MT-III immunopositive cells were increased in the frontal, parietal and piriform cortices, hypothalamus and amygdaloid nucleus with aging. The LPS treatment induced MT-III expression in the brain of young-adult rats, but not in the aged rat brain. Furthermore, the MT-III induction with LPS treatment was mainly observed in oligodendrocyte and microglia. In the present study, we showed that inducibility of brain MT-III against oxidative stress may be reduced with aging. Since it has been reported that MT-III has neuroprotective roles as an antioxidant, present results suggest that MT-III is closely related to the neurodegeneration in the aged animals.
KW - Growth inhibitory factor (GIF)
KW - Metallothionein-III
KW - Oxidative stress
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036312669&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0036312669&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0168-0102(02)00057-3
DO - 10.1016/S0168-0102(02)00057-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 12135776
AN - SCOPUS:0036312669
SN - 0168-0102
VL - 43
SP - 323
EP - 333
JO - Neuroscience Research
JF - Neuroscience Research
IS - 4
ER -