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Engagement of Ubiquitination and De-Ubiquitination at Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla in Experimental Brain Death

Engagement of Ubiquitination and De-Ubiquitination at Rostral Ventrolateral Medulla in Experimental Brain Death

Carol H Y Wu, Julie Y H Chan, Jimmy Li-Jer Chou, Samuel H H Chan, Alice Y W Chang

J Biomed Sci. 2012 Apr 30;19(1):48.

PMID: 22545670

Abstract:

Background:
Whereas brain death is a vitally important clinical phenomenon, our contemporary understanding on its underlying cellular mechanisms remains elusive. This study evaluated whether the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM), a neural substrate that our laboratory identified previously to be intimately related to brain death, is engaged in this fatal process.
Methods:
We performed proteomics, Western Blot, real-time PCR, ELISA and pharmacological experiments in conjunction with a clinically relevant experimental endotoxemia model of brain death based on intravenous administration of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats.
Results:
Proteomics, Western blot and enzyme activity analyses demonstrated that polyubiquitination was preserved and de-ubiquitination by ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase isozyme-L1 (UCH-L1) was sustained, alongside increased monoubiquitin availability or proteasome activity in RVLM over the course of experimental endotoxemia. However, real-time PCR revealed no significant alteration in proteasome subunit alpha type-1, ubiquitin or UCH-L1 at mRNA level. Functionally, whereas microinjection into the bilateral RVLM of proteasome inhibitors (lactacystin or proteasome inhibitor II) potentiated survival, an inhibitor of ubiquitin-recycling (ubiquitin aldehyde) or an UCH-L1 inhibitor exacerbated mortality.
Conclusions:
We proposed previously that the progression towards brain death entails a tug-of-war between pro-death and pro-life programs in RVLM. It is conceivable that ubiquitination or de-ubiquitination in RVLM participate in brain death by regulating the degradation of the proteins involved in those programs.

Chemicals Related in the Paper:

Catalog Number	Product Name	Structure	CAS Number	Price
IAR42410916	Proteasome Inhibitor II			Price

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