Neurotoxic Effect of the Complex of the Ovine Prion Protein (OvPrP(C)) and RNA on the Cultured Rat Cortical Neurons

作者：Liu Mei Li^*; Wen Jian Jun; Xu Xue Fang; Zhao De Ming

来源：Neurochemical Research, 2011, 36(10): 1863-1869.

DOI：10.1007/s11064-011-0506-2

• Prion
• OvPrP(C)-RNA
• Neuronal injury neurotoxicity
• Bax

Prion diseases are conformational diseases, many factors are involved in altering the conformation of prion, such as RNA, DNA, pH, and copper etc. However the neurotoxic mechanism of prion diseases is not clear yet. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the nucleoprotein complex of RNA and recombinant ovine prion protein (OvPrP(C)) on the cultured rat cortical neurons in vitro. Our previous study revealed that the nucleoprotein complex (OvPrP(C)-RNA) is characterized with high beta sheet conformation and proteinase K resistance. Here we found that the OvPrP(C)-RNA induced marked neuronal cell death by the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethyl-thiazole -2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl -tetrazolium bromide) and TUNEL (TdT mediated biotin-dUTP nicked-end labeling) assay, and the neurotoxic effects were confirmed by testing the content of Bcl-2 Associated X protein (Bax) in the immunoprecipitation assay and Western blot assay. Compared to the control group, there is no significant difference of active Bax or total Bax after RNA alone treatme

• 出版日期2011-10
• 单位北京航空航天大学; 中国农业大学