Increased SUMO-1 expression in the unilateral rotenone-lesioned mouse model of Parkinson's disease

• Published in: Neuroscience letters Vol. 544; pp. 119 - 124
• Main Authors: Weetman, J., Wong, M.B., Sharry, S., Rcom-H’cheo-Gauthier, A., Gai, W.P., Meedeniya, A., Pountney, D.L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 07.06.2013
• Subjects: Aging - metabolism; alpha-Synuclein - metabolism; Animal models; Animals; Brain - metabolism; Disease Models, Animal; Humans; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Parkinson's disease; Parkinsonian Disorders - chemically induced; Parkinsonian Disorders - metabolism; Rotenone; SUMO; SUMO-1 Protein - metabolism; Up-Regulation; α-Synuclein; α-Synuclein; SUMO; Parkinson's disease; Rotenone
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2013.03.057

•SUMO-1 modifier in unilateral mouse Parkinson's disease model (young adult and aged groups).•Brain homogenates showed SUMO-1 species increased in lesioned brain hemisphere.•Greater relative SUMO-1 increase observed in the young animals.•α-Synuclein revealed several molecular weight species increased in the lesioned hemisphere.•Greater relative increase in α-synuclein in the aged group. Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease resulting from progressive loss of dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons. α-Synuclein protein conformational changes, resulting in cytotoxic/aggregated proteins, have been linked to PD pathogenesis. We investigated a unilateral rotenone-lesioned mouse PD model. Unilateral lesion of the medial forebrain bundle for two groups of male C57 black mice (n=5); adult (6–12 months) group and aged (1.75–2 years) group, was via stereotactic rotenone injection. After 2 weeks post-lesion, phenotypic Parkinsonian symptoms, resting tremor, postural instability, left-handed bias, ipsiversive rotation and bradykinesia were observed and were more severe in the aged group. We investigated protein expression profiles of the post-translational modifier, SUMO-1, and α-synuclein between the treated and control hemisphere, and between adult and aged groups. Western analysis of the brain homogenates indicated that there were statistically significant (p<0.05) increases in several specific molecular weight species (ranging 12–190kDa) of both SUMO-1 (0.75–4.3-fold increased) and α-synuclein (1.6–19-fold increase) in the lesioned compared to un-lesioned hemisphere, with the adult mice showing proportionately greater increases in SUMO-1 than the aged group.