Comparative proteomics of rat brain in the BCNU-induced model of cortical dysplasia

Abstract

Objective To screen the differential proteins in the brain (neocortex and hippocampus) between the rats with cortical dysplasia (CD) and control ones,and investigate the role of their alteration in the development of epilepsy in CD.Methods Cortical dysplasia was induced in rat pups via in utero delivery of BCNU.A two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE)-based approach was used to construct the expression profiles of proteins in both the neocortex and hippocampus at different age groups (postnatal day 7 and 60) and to detect proteome changes between CD rats and control ones.Following gel image analysis,protein spots that differed in abundance between CD and control rats were identified by using Matrx-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS) and MS/MS.Results A total of 57 kinds of protein were screened out (P ＜ 0.05),in which 35 were found up-regulated and 22 were down-regulated compared with the control,35 from neonatal stage (postnatal day 7) and others from adult stage.Finally,12 among them were identified,including tubulin,alpha-lB,Beta-actin,tubulin beta-2A,GAP-43,UbCKmit,GAPDH and TMBr-3,etc.Conclusions Changed expression of specific proteins which were found in our study are involved in construction of brain 's cytoskeleton,synaptic function,mitochondrial function and so forth.Thus,they may be related to the pathogenic mechanisms of epileptogenicity of CD. Key words: Cortical dysplasia; BCNU; Neocortex; Hippocampus; 2-DE; Mass spectrometry; Comparative Proteomics ; Epilepsy