Regional distribution of calcium/calmodulin-dependent phosphatase activity of calcineurin in rat brain

• Published in: Research communications in chemical pathology and pharmacology Vol. 64; no. 3; p. 357
• Main Authors: Chung, E, Dvorozniak, M T, Van Woert, M H, Li, H C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-06-1989
• Subjects: 3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid - metabolism; Animals; Brain Chemistry - drug effects; Calcineurin; Calcium - metabolism; Calmodulin - metabolism; Calmodulin-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Corpus Striatum - enzymology; Corpus Striatum - physiology; Dopamine - metabolism; Glutamate Decarboxylase; Homovanillic Acid - metabolism; Hydroxydopamines; Kainic Acid - pharmacology; Male; Oxidopamine; Phosphoprotein Phosphatases - metabolism; Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases - metabolism; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Substantia Nigra - drug effects; Sympathectomy, Chemical
• ISSN: 0034-5164

The regional distribution of calcineurin activity (measured using p-nitrophenyl-phosphate which detects the phospho-tyrosylphosphatase activity of calcineurin) shows that the striatum, hippocampus and cerebral cortex contains high calcineurin activity. Within the striatum, calcineurin activity does not appear to be present in dopaminergic terminals, since lesions of the nigro-striatal dopaminergic pathway (which reduce striatal dopamine levels by 97%) had no effect on calcineurin activity. On the other hand, kainic acid, which destroys neurons whose perikarya are in the striatum, reduced calcineurin activity by 86% indicating that calcineurin activity is localized in striatal intrinsic neurons. Calcineurin apparently does not exist in glia, since glial cells actually proliferate in kainic acid lesioned striatal tissues.