The present study further supports previous studies that cdk5 crosstalk is one of the major factors regulating neuronal behavior. It is important to note that not only the reduction in cdk5 activity, but also how that reduction Kinesin inhibitor comes about, is relevant for a specific biological outcome. This in itself is a critical parameter when it comes to choosing agents for therapeutic use. Neurofilament H shifts to soma from axons in neurons treated with DAPT Similar studies also showed that total neurofilament expression in the control DMSO treated and DAPT treated cells did not change, but phospho N FH accumulated in the soma accompanied by a decrease in axon localization in the neurons treated with DAPT in contrast to the DMSO treated cells. DAPI staining for the nuclei and the overlap of total NF H, P NF H is shown in Fig. 4A d, h. Immunoblot analyses demonstrated that DAPT treated neurons showed a slight increase in P NF H level. These results reflect a scenario seen in the neurons treated with the cdk5 inhibitor, roscovitine, described earlier in our report, where inhibition of cdk5 activity resulted in the accumulation of p tau and p NF H in the cell bodies.
Effect of long term treatment of neurons with DAPT Although a 24 h time point was chosen to see if DAPT had any effect on the cortical neuron STAT Signaling Pathway survival, it was imperative to elucidate its effect over a defined period of time. Neurons were treated with DMSO or DAPT from 12 48 h.
This time course experiment revealed that a significant upregulation in the cdk5 protein level occurred as early as 12 h after DAPT treatment. Immunoblotting of the protein extracts with anti tubulin antibody was performed to indicate total protein loads in each lane. Densitometric analyses of the immunoblot for cdk5 demonstrated that DAPT induced cdk5 overexpression remains unaltered from 12 48 h of treatment. Cdk5 activity remained at a lower level during this period of time. Significant suppression of cdk5 activity occurred as early as 12 h after DAPT treatment and the level of attenuation remained unaltered until 48 h. Effect of p35 overexpression on DAPT induced Tau and NF H translocation Since DAPT induced an increase in cdk5 protein expression accompanied by the downregulation of cdk5 catalytic activity that is reminiscent of what happens in cdk5 transgenic mice, we attempted to overexpress p35 in the neurons in order to activate the nascent cdk5, produced by DAPT treatment. Cortical neurons were transfected with pcDNA3 p35 plasmid and 24 h post transfection, DAPT was added. After 24 h of DAPT addition, neurons were processed for immunolocalization of p tau and p NFH. First, lysates prepared from these cells showed an increased expression of p35.