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Upregulation of p21-activated Kinase 6 in rat brain cortex after traumatic brain injury

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Abstract

p21-activated Kinase 6 (PAK6) is a serine/threonine kinase belonging to the p21-activated kinase (PAK) family. PAK kinases are well-known regulators of a wide variety of cellular functions, including regulation of cytoskeleton rearrangement, cell survival, apoptosis and the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway. To elucidate the expressions and possible functions of PAK6 in central nervous system (CNS) lesion and repair, we performed a traumatic brain injury (TBI) model in adult rats. Western blot analysis revealed that PAK6 level significantly increased at day 3 after damage, and then declined during the following days. Besides, double immunofluorescence staining showed PAK6 was primarily expressed in the neurons and a few of glial cells in the normal group. While after injury, the expression of PAK6 was increased significantly in the astrocytes and neurons, and the astrocytes had largely proliferated. We also examined the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) whose change was correlated with the expression of PAK6. Importantly, double immunofluorescence staining revealed that cell proliferation evaluated by PCNA appeared in many PAK6-expressing cells at day 3 after injury. In addition, injury-induced expression of PAK6 was co-labeled by active caspase-3 during neuronal apoptosis after injury. Collectively, we hypothesized PAK6 may play important roles in CNS pathophysiology after TBI and further research is needed to have a good understanding of its function and mechanism.

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Abbreviations

PAK6:

p21-activated Kinase 6

CNS:

Central nervous system

PAGE:

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

ECL:

Enhanced chemiluminescence system

BSA:

Bovine serum albumin

NeuN:

Neuronal nuclei

GFAP:

Glial fibrillary acidic protein

PCNA:

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen

GAPDH:

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate-dehydrogenase

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30770488, No. 30870320, No. 31070723 and No. 81070275); Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu province (No. BK2009156, No. BK2009157, No. BK2009161, and No. BK2010169); Nature Science Foundation of Jiangsu Colleges and Universities Grant (09KJB320011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong University, 226001, Nantong, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Zhao, Jiao Yang, Wei Shi, **ujie Wu, Bai Shao, Qiyun Wu, Jian Chen & Lanchun Ni

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  1. Wei Zhao
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  2. Jiao Yang
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  3. Wei Shi
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Correspondence to Jian Chen or Lanchun Ni.

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Wei Zhao and Jiao Yang are contributed equally to this work.

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Zhao, W., Yang, J., Shi, W. et al. Upregulation of p21-activated Kinase 6 in rat brain cortex after traumatic brain injury. J Mol Hist 42, 195–203 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10735-011-9324-8

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