Ectopic parvalbumin expression in mouse forebrain neurons increases excitotoxic injury provoked by ibotenic acid injection into the striatum

• Published in: Experimental neurology 2004-03, Vol.186 (1), p.78-88
• Main Authors: Maetzler, Walter, Nitsch, Cordula, Bendfeldt, Kerstin, Racay, Peter, Vollenweider, Florence, Schwaller, Beat
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Astrocytes - metabolism; Biological and medical sciences; Blotting, Western - methods; Brain Diseases - chemically induced; Brain Diseases - metabolism; Brain Diseases - pathology; Ca 2+ sequestration; Ca 2+-binding proteins; Cell Death - drug effects; Cell Survival - drug effects; Corpus Striatum - drug effects; Corpus Striatum - metabolism; Corpus Striatum - pathology; Corpus Striatum - ultrastructure; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Electron Transport Complex IV - metabolism; Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists - toxicity; Excitotoxicity; Glial fibrillary acidic protein; Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein - metabolism; Ibotenic Acid - toxicity; Immunohistochemistry - methods; Injuries of the nervous system and the skull. Diseases due to physical agents; Medical sciences; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Transgenic; Microscopy, Electron - methods; Mitochondria; Mitochondria - pathology; Neurodegeneration; Neurology; Neurons - metabolism; Neurons - ultrastructure; Parvalbumins - genetics; Parvalbumins - metabolism; Prosencephalon - cytology; Prosencephalon - metabolism; Prosencephalon - pathology; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents
• ISSN: 0014-4886; 1090-2430
• DOI: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2003.10.014

A neuroprotective role for Ca 2+-binding proteins in neurodegenerative conditions ranging from ischemia to Alzheimer's disease has been suggested in several studies. A key phenomenon in neurodegeneration is the Ca 2+-mediated excitotoxicity brought about by the neurotransmitter glutamate. To evaluate the relative ability to resist excitotoxicity of neurons containing the slow-onset Ca 2+-binding protein parvalbumin (PV), we injected the glutamate agonist ibotenic acid (IBO) into the striatum of adult mice ectopically expressing PV in neurons. Striatal ibotenic acid injection results in local nerve cell loss and reactive astrogliosis. Light microscopic evaluation, carried out after a delay of 2 and 4 weeks, reveals an enlarged and accelerated neurodegenerative process in mice ectopically expressing neuronal PV. Thus, PV is not neuroprotective, it rather enhances nerve cell death. This result implicates that the increase in cytosolic Ca 2+-buffering capacity in the transgenic mice impairs other systems involved in Ca 2+ sequestration. In addition, ultrastructural morphometric analysis shows that in neurons the mitochondrial volume is reduced in mice ectopically expressing neuronal PV. This is paralleled by a reduction in the amount of the mitochondrial marker enzyme cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COXI). We conclude that alterations in the Ca 2+ homeostasis present in mice ectopically expressing neuronal PV are more deleterious under excitotoxic stress and largely outweigh the potential benefits of an increased Ca 2+-buffering capacity resulting from PV.