Published Online
on May 8, 2003

A more recent version of this article appeared on June 1, 2003

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Submitted on December 23, 2002
Accepted on January 13, 2003

Copper-Zinc Superoxide Dismutase Affects Akt Activation After Transient Focal Cerebral Ischemia in Mice

Nobuo Noshita MD; Taku Sugawara MD, PhD; Anders Lewén MD, PhD; Takeshi Hayashi MD, PhD; and Pak H. Chan PhD^*

From the Department of Neurosurgery, Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, and Program in Neurosciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: phchan{at}leland.stanford.edu.

Background and Purpose--The serine-threonine kinase Akt is activated by phosphorylation at serine-473. After phosphorylation, activated Akt inactivates BAD or caspase-9 or other apoptogenic components, thereby inhibiting cell death. In this study we examined the relationship between Akt phosphorylation and oxidative stress after transient focal cerebral ischemia (FCI) using copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1) transgenic (Tg) mice.

Methods--The mice were subjected to 60 minutes of middle cerebral artery occlusion by intraluminal suture blockade followed by 1, 4, and 24 hours of reperfusion. Phospho-Akt expression was examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. Production of superoxide anion was assessed by the hydroethidine method in both wild-type mice and SOD1 Tg mice. DNA fragmentation was evaluated by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated uridine 5'-triphosphate-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL).

Results--Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that phospho-Akt was constitutively expressed and was decreased in the ischemic core as early as 1 hour after reperfusion, whereas it was temporally increased in the cortex at 4 hours. Phospho-Akt expression was enhanced in the SOD1 Tg mice. Western blot analysis showed that phospho-Akt was maximized 4 hours after reperfusion in the wild-type mice, whereas phospho-Akt was increased as early as 1 hour after ischemia in the SOD1 Tg mice. There was a significant decrease in TUNEL-positive cells in the SOD1 Tg mice compared with the wild-type mice.

Conclusions--The present study suggests that SOD1 may contribute to the early activation of the Akt cell survival signaling pathway and may attenuate subsequent DNA damage after transient FCI.

Key words: apoptosis • cerebral ischemia, focal • reactive oxygen species • superoxide dismutase • mice

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