NFAT DNA binding complexes regulate programs of cellular activation and differentiation by translating receptor-dependent signaling events into specific transcriptional responses. NFAT proteins, originally defined as calcium/calcineurin-dependent regulators of cytokine gene transcription in T lymphocytes, are expressed in many different cell types and represent critical signaling intermediates that mediate an increasingly wide spectrum of biologic responses. Recent studies have identified a novel protein containing a region of similarity to the NFAT DNA binding domain. Here we demonstrate that this protein, designated NFATL1 (also known as tonicity enhancer binding protein and NFAT5) is expressed at high levels in the thymus but is undetectable in mature lymphocytes. However, NFATL1 can be induced in both primary quiescent T lymphocytes and differentiated Th1 and Th2 cell populations upon mitogen- or Ag receptor-dependent activation. The induction of NFATL1 protein, as well as NFATL1-dependent transcription, is inhibited by cyclosporin A and FK506, and expression of constitutively active calcineurin induces NFATL1-dependent transcription. Overexpression of NFATc1 and inhibition of NFATc activity through the use of a dominant negative NFATc1 protein have no affect on NFATL1-dependent transcription, indicating that NFATc proteins do not play a role in the calcineurin-dependent induction of NFATL1. Interestingly, induction of NFATL1 by a hyperosmotic stimulus is not blocked by the inhibition of calcineurin. Moreover, osmotic stress response genes such as aldose reductase are not induced upon T cell activation. Thus inducible expression of NFATL1 represents a mechanism by which receptor-dependent signals as well as osmotic stress signals are translated into transcriptional responses that regulate cell function.

TAM tyrosine kinases play multiple functional roles including regulation of the target genes important in homeostatic regulation of cytokine receptors or Toll-like receptor-mediated signal transduction pathways. Here, we show that TAM receptors affect adult hippocampal neurogenesis and loss of TAM receptors impair hippocampal neurogenesis, largely attributed to exaggerated inflammatory responses by microglia characterized by increased MAP kinase and NF-κB activation and elevated production of proinflammatory cytokines that are detrimental to neuron stem cell (NSC) proliferation and neuronal differentiation. Injection of LPS causes even more severe inhibition of BrdU incorporation in the Tyro3−/−Axl−/−Mertk−/−triple knockout (TKO) brains, consistent with the LPS-elicited enhanced expression of proinflammatory mediators, e.g., IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and iNOS, and this effect is antagonized by co-injection of the anti-inflammatory drug indomethacin in WT but not TKO brains. Conditioned medium from TKO microglia cultures inhibits NSC proliferation and neuronal differentiation. IL-6 knockout in Axl−/−Mertk−/− double knockout (DKO) mice overcomes the inflammatory inhibition of neurogenesis, suggesting that IL-6 is a major downstream neurotoxic mediator under homeostatic regulation by TAM receptors in microglia. In addition, autonomous trophic function of the TAM receptors on the proliferating neuronal progenitors may also promotes progenitor differentiation into immature neurons.

Experimental and chronic reduction in CSF in monkeys was associated with the development of an optic neuropathy in some monkeys.

To date, two cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2, have been cloned. The CB1 receptor has been found in a variety of tissues, particularly in the brain. CB2 receptor mRNA is mainly expressed in the immune system, though one group has found it in mouse cerebellum. Previous immunostaining studies in our lab demonstrated the presence of CB1 receptors in the retina though little evidence exists for the presence of CB2. The putative endogenous ligand for CB2 has been found in retina, however, suggesting that further study of CB2 in retina is warranted. Because glutamate is toxic to retinal ganglion cells in glaucoma and activation of CB2 receptors may be able to protect neurons from glutamate-induced death, we examined the expression of CB2 mRNA in adult rat retina in order to better understand possible neuroprotective mechanisms relevant to glaucoma. Using in situ hybridization, we demonstrated that CB2 cannabinoid receptor messenger RNA was clearly expressed in the adult rat retina, including the somas of retinal ganglion cells. Antisense cRNA probe detected strong signals in the retinal ganglion cell layer, the inner nuclear layer, and the inner segments of photoreceptor cells. Using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in both rat and mouse tissue, we obtained an RT-PCR product with the same sequence as that reported for CB2 in the GenBank database, thus confirming the presence of CB2 mRNA in retina. The presence of CB2 in retina provides new evidence for the presence of CB2 in the central nervous system (CNS) and an excellent model for its study.