| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
SAITO Naoaki Kobe Univ.Sch.Med., Dept. of Pharmacol., Research Associate, 医学部, 助手 (60178499)
KUNO Takayoshi Kobe Univ.Sch.Med., Dept. of Pharmacol., Assistant Professor, 医学部, 講師 (50144564)
TANIYAMA Kohtaro Kobe Univ.Sch.Med., Dept. of Pharmacol., Associate Professor, 医学部, 助教授 (70030898)
NISHIZUKA Yasutomi Kobe Univ.Sch.Med., Dept. of Biochem., Professor, 医学部, 教授 (10025546)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥14,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥14,800,000)
Fiscal Year 1989: ¥4,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,600,000)
Fiscal Year 1988: ¥10,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥10,200,000)
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| Research Abstract |
Protein kinase C (PKC) is a key enzyme involved in the signal transduction mechanism of many physiological processes. The enzyme is now known to exist as a family of several subtly different, but closely related subspecies. Thus far several laboratories have isolated cDNA clones encoding distinct forms of PKC, namely, alpha, betaI, betaII, gamma, delta, epsilon, and zeta. PKC subspecies exhibit subtle difference in their enzymological characteristics and cellular locations, suggesting they have distinct physiological roles. We synthesized subspecies-specific oligopeptides for alpha, betaI, betaII, and gamma-PKC and obtained subspecies-specific antibodies by immunizing rabbits with the oligopeptides. We aimed in this project to elucidate the functional difference between the subspecies of PKC in nervous tissue using electron microscopic immunocytochemistry. The distribution of each PKC subspecies was distinctly different and the distributions did not completely correspond with those of any neurotransmitters and receptors. Under electron microscopy, gamma-PKC was present in the perikaryon, plasma membrane, nucleus, dendrite, and axon. betaI-PKC was just adjacent to plasma membrane, while betaII-PKC was located around Golgi complex. In the hippocampus, gamma-PKC was distributed diffusely throughout the cytoplasm of pyramidal cells from the perikarya to dendritic spine. In contrast, betaII-PKC was concentrated around Golgi complex and present diffusely in distal dendrites, except for the dendritic spines. Neither PKC subspecies could not be detected in the synaptic terminals. These results suggest that each PKC subspecies has a specific function in the neurons and that gamma-PKC and betaII-PKC are involved in long term potentiation postsynaptically in the hippocampus.
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