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Acute Exposure of Cerebellar Granule Neurons to Ethanol Suppresses Stress-Activated Protein Kinase-1 and Concomitantly Induces AP-1

https://doi.org/10.1006/taap.2001.9229Get rights and content

Abstract

The current studies were designed to examine the mechanisms of acute effects of ethanol on cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs) during neurodevelopment, with specific reference to activator protein-1 (AP-1). CGNs, isolated from 3-day-old Sprague–Dawley rats and cultured for 3 days, were exposed to 0, 22.5, and 100 mM ethanol for 1 h. Gel shift assays performed on the nuclear protein extracts showed increased AP-1 and heat shock factor-1 (HSF-1) transcriptional activation in response to ethanol. Western blots and RT-PCR showed increased c-JUN and phosphorylated c-JUN (serine 73) protein, as well as c-jun mRNA. Ethanol paradoxically decreased the activity of stress-activated protein kinase-1 (SAPK-1) while increasing p44 and p42 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activity. The protein synthesis-inhibiting and SAPK-1 activity-inducing antibiotic, anisomycin (30 and 500 μM) decreased AP-1 transcriptional activation to 47 and 23% of control values, respectively. The anisomycin effect was enhanced in the presence of 100 mM ethanol. Similarly, cycloheximide decreased ethanol-induced AP-1 transcriptional activation. Pretreatment with the MAPK kinase (MEK) pathway inhibitor PD98059 resulted in decreases in both ethanol-induced and control AP-1 DNA binding. Thus this acute ethanol-induced increased AP-1 transcriptional activation requires protein synthesis and involves MEK-independent increased MAPK phosphorylation, on the one hand, and decreased SAPK-1 activity on the other. The ethanol effect is thus ascribed to the activities of alternate kinase pathways and/or the inhibition of (a) protein phosphatase(s). Exposure of CGNs to ethanol for 24 h resulted in decreased AP-1 DNA binding, an observation that could have consequences for overall neuronal function under chronic exposure conditions.

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