Down-regulation of Homerlb/c expression protects cultured neurons after traumatic injury

• Published in: 中国神经再生研究：英文版 Vol. 7; no. 28; pp. 2176 - 2181
• Main Author: Weidong Huang Xiaobin Liu Zhou Fei Yuelin Zhang Jun Yang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: 代谢型谷氨酸受体; 体外培养; 保护; 创伤性脑损伤; 小分子干扰RNA; 小干扰RNA; 皮层神经元; 转染细胞
• ISSN: 1673-5374

Activation of metabotropic glutamate receptor la aggravates traumatic brain injury. The constitutively expressed protein Homerlb/c participates in delivering and anchoring metabotropic glutamate receptors in neurons. Here, we aimed to verify whether down-regulation of Homerlb/c by RNA interference could protect cultured rat cortical neurons from traumatic injury. We showed that 36 hours after transfection of Homerlb/c small interfering RNA, metabotropic glutamate receptor la was present only in the neuronal cytoplasm, but not in the dendrites. Calcium fluorescence intensity was also decreased significantly. Moreover, lactate dehydrogenase concentration was significantly decreased in Homerlb/c small interfering RNA-transfected cells compared with that in untransfected and control small interfering RNA-transfected cells 24 hours after traumatic neuronal injury. Our findings indicate that down-regulation of Homerlb/c could reduce metabotropic glutamate receptor la transfer from the cell body to the dendrite, relieve calcium overload, and protect neurons from traumatic injury.