The ultrastructural changes in the pyramidal neurons of the CA1 region of the hippocampus were studied 6 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h following a transient 10 min period of cerebral ischemia induced by common carotid occlusion combined with hypotension. The pyramidal neurons showed delayed neuronal death (DND), i.e. at 24 h and 48 h postischemia few structural alterations were noted in the light microscope, while at 72 h extensive neuronal degeneration was apparent. The most prominent early ultrastructural changes were polysome disaggregation, and the appearance of electron-dense fluffy dark material associated with tubular saccules. Mitochondria and nuclear elements appeared intact until frank neuronal degeneration. The dark material accumulated with extended periods of recirculation in soma and in the main trunks of proximal dendrites, often beneath the plasma membrane, less frequently in the distal dendrites and seldom in spines. Protein synthesis inhibitors (anisomycin, cycloheximide) and an RNA synthesis inhibitor (actinomycin D), administered by intrahippocampal injections or subcutaneously, did not mitigate neuronal damage. Therefore, DND is probably not apoptosis or a form of programmed cell death. We propose that the dark material accumulating in the postischemic period represents protein complexes, possibly aggregates of proteins or internalized plasma membrane fragments, which may disrupt vital cellular structure and functions, leading to cell death.

Following stress such as heat shock or transient cerebral ischemia, global brain protein synthesis initiation is depressed through modulation of eucaryotic initiation factor (eIF) activities, and modification of ribosomal subunits. Concomitantly, expression of a certain class of mRNA, heat-shock protein (HSP) mRNA, is induced. Here we report that the activity of eucaryotic initiation factor-2 (eIF-2), a protein that participates in the regulation of a rate-limiting initiation step of protein synthesis, transiently decreases following insulin-induced severe hypoglycemia in the rat brain neocortex. Expression of HSP 72, a 72-kDa HSP, in surviving neurons was seen at 1-7 days of recovery following 30 min of hypoglycemic coma, but not at 1 h and 6 h of recovery. In the neocortex, HSP 72 was first seen in layer IV, and later also in surviving neurons in layer II. In the CA1 region and in the crest of dentate gyrus, HSP 72 expression was evident in cells adjacent to irreversibly damaged neurons. In the CA3 region and the hilus of dentate gyrus, HSP 72 was expressed in a few scattered neurons. In septal nucleus, HSP 72 was expressed in a lateral to medial fashion over a period of 1-3 days of recovery. We conclude that severe insulin-induced hypoglycemia induces a stress response in neurons in the recovery phase, including inhibition of protein synthesis initiation, depression of eIF-2 activity, and a delayed and prolonged expression of HSP 72 in surviving neurons. The HSP 72 expression may be a protective response to injurious stress.

Protein synthesis, measured as [14C]-leucine incorporation into proteins, was studied in the normothermic rat brain following 15 min of transient cerebral ischaemia and 1 h, 24 h and 48 h of recirculation, and in the hypothermic (33 degrees C) brain following 1 h and 48 h of recirculation. Ischaemia was induced by bilateral common carotid occlusion combined with hypotension. Following normothermic ischaemia, incorporation of [14C]-leucine was depressed by 40-80% at 1 h of recirculation in all brain regions studied. At 48 h postischaemia, incorporation returned to normal or above normal levels in the inner layers of neocortex, the CA3 region, the striatum and the dentate gyrus, while in the outer layers of neocortex and in the hippocampal CA1 region the incorporation was persistently decreased by 26% and 40% respectively. At 24 and 48 h postischaemia, protein synthesis in the CA1 region and the striatum could be attributed to proliferating microglia. Intra-ischaemic hypothermia ameliorated the persistent depression of protein synthesis in the CA1 region at 48 h postischaemia, and a two-fold increase compared to the normothermic group was observed both in the CA1 region and the striatum. In the cortex, eucaryotic initiation factor 2 activity transiently decreased at 30 min postischaemia. In animals subjected to intra-ischaemic hypothermia, the eucaryotic initiation factor 2 activity was reduced by 50% of control at 30 min of recirculation compared with 77% in normothermic animals. We conclude that the postischaemic depression of protein synthesis is in part caused by a decrease in eucaryotic initiation factor 2 activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Binding of 125I-insulin-like growth factor-1 (125I-IGF-1) to rat brain slices was studied after 15 min of two-vessel occlusion ischemia and 1 h to 4 days of recirculation. Ligand binding in the hippocampus increased at 6 h post ischemia in the CA1 and CA3 regions and the dentate gyrus, suggesting that the IGF-1 receptors were up-regulated, while no change was seen in neocortex and striatum. Intracerebroventricular injections of IGF-1 (2 μg) prior to and after transient cerebral ischemia did not reduce neuronal damage. The increased up-regulation on IGF-1 receptors and the absence of neuroprotection by IGF-1 suggest that the intracellular signal transduction chain activated by the IGF-1 receptor may be interrupted.

No abstract