Neuroprotective effects of lithium are likely related to gene expressions

Lithium, as a neuroprotective agent, benefits for neuronal survival. Recent cDNA array studies have demonstrated that mood stabilizer lithium exhibits neuroprotective effects through multiple targets. Dr. Riadh Nciri and his team, Purpan Medicine Faculty, Paul Sabatier University, France, exposed SH-SY5Y cells to 0.5 mmol/L lithium carbonate for 25-50 weeks and then detected the expression levels of some neurobiology related genes and post-translational modifications of stress proteins in SH-SY5Y cells.

cDNA arrays showed that pyruvate kinase 2 (PKM2) and calmodulin 3 expression levels were significantly down-regulated, phosphatase protein PP2A expression was lightly down-regulated, and casein kinase II, threonine/tyrosine phosphatase 7, and dopamine beta-hydroxylase expression levels were significantly up-regulated. Besides, western blot analysis of stress proteins (HSP27, HSP70, GRP78 and GRP94) showed an over-expression of two proteins: a 105 kDa protein which is a hyper-phosphorylated isoform of GRP94, and a 108 kDa protein which is a phosphorylated tetramer of HSP27. These results suggest that the neuroprotective effects of lithium are likely related to gene expressions and post-translational modification of proteins cited above. This paper was published in Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 7, 2014).

Source: Neural Regeneration Research