No abstract

While it is well-established that pharmacological inhibitors of classical HDACs are protective in various in vivo models of neurodegenerative disease, the identity of the neurotoxic HDAC (s) that these inhibitors target to exert their protective effects has not been resolved. We find that HDAC3 is a protein with strong neurotoxic activity. Forced expression of HDAC3 induces death of otherwise healthy rat cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs), whereas shRNA-mediated suppression of its expression protects against low potassium-induced neuronal death. Forced expression of HDAC3 also promotes the death of rat cortical neurons and hippocampally-derived HT22 cells, but has no effect on the viability of primary kidney fibroblasts or the HEK293 and HeLa cell lines. This suggests that the toxic effect of HDAC3 is cell-specific and that neurons are sensitive to it. Neurotoxicity by HDAC3 is inhibited by treatment with IGF-1 as well as by the expression of a constitutively-active form of Akt, an essential mediator of IGF-1 signaling. Protection against HDAC3-induced neurotoxicity is also achieved by the inhibition of GSK3β, a kinase inhibited by Akt and that is widely implicated in the promotion of neurodegeneration in experimental models and in human pathologies. HDAC3 is directly phosphorylated by GSK3β, suggesting that the neuronal death-promoting action of GSK3β could be mediated through HDAC3 phosphorylation. Besides demonstrating that HDAC3 has neurotoxic effects, our study identifies it as a downstream target of GSK3β.

Background:The role of HDAC1 in the regulation of neuronal survival is unresolved. Results: In cooperation with HDRP, HDAC1 promotes neuronal survival, but when it interacts with HDAC3, HDAC1 promotes neuronal death. Conclusion: HDAC1 can protect neurons or promote neuronal death depending on whether it interacts with HDRP or HDAC3. Significance: Our results provide insight into the role of HDAC1 in the regulation of neuronal survival.

The methyl-CpG Binding Protein 2 (MeCP2) is a widely expressed protein, mutations of which cause Rett syndrome. The level of MeCP2 is highest in the brain where it is expressed selectively in mature neurons. Its functions in postmitotic neurons are not known. The MeCP2 gene is alternatively-spliced to generate two proteins with different N-termini, designated as MeCP2-e1 and MeCP2-e2. The physiological significance of these two isoforms has not been elucidated and it is generally assumed they are functionally equivalent. We report that in cultured cerebellar granule neurons induced to die by low potassium treatment and in Aβ-treated cortical neurons, Mecp2-e2 expression is upregulated whereas expression of the Mecp2-e1 isoform is downregulated. Knockdown of Mecp2-e2 protects neurons from death whereas knockdown of the e1 isoform has no effect. Forced expression of MeCP2-e2, but not MeCP2-e1, promotes apoptosis in otherwise healthy neurons. We find that MeCP2-e2 interacts with the forkhead protein FoxG1, mutations of which also cause Rett syndrome. FoxG1 has been shown to promote neuronal survival and its downregulation leads to neuronal death. We find that elevated FoxG1 expression inhibits MeCP2-e2 neurotoxicity. MeCP2-e2 neurotoxicity is also inhibited by IGF-1, which prevents the neuronal death-associated downregulation of FoxG1 expression, and by Akt, activation of which is necessary for FoxG1-mediated neuroprotection. Finally, MeCP2-e2 neurotoxicity is enhanced if FoxG1 expression is suppressed or in neurons cultured from FoxG1-haplodeficient mice. Our results indicate that Mecp2-e2 promotes neuronal death and that this activity is normally inhibited by FoxG1. Reduced FoxG1expression frees Mecp2-e2 to promote neuronal death.