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1From the Departments of Anatomy and Neuroscience and 4Ophthalmology, and the 3Osaka-Hamamatsu Joint Research Center for Child Mental Development, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan; the 221st Century COE Program; and the 5Departments of Anatomy and Neuroscience and 6Physiology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan.
PURPOSE. To investigate the intracellular mechanisms that induce amyloid β (Aβ) accumulation and angiogenesis in the human retinal pigment epithelial cell line ARPE19.
METHODS. The authors used two endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-inducing reagents, thapsigargin (TG), which inhibits the sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic calcium (Ca)2+-ATPase, and tunicamycin (TM), which inhibits N-linked glycosylation. The expression pattern of Aβ-precursor protein (APP) splice variants was investigated by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. Cellular expressions of both a series of Aβ metabolism-related factors and angiogenic factors were evaluated by real-time RT-PCR and Western blot (VEGF). Expression of caspase-4 was examined by real-time RT-PCR and Western blot to evaluate the effect of the ER stressor. Intracellular Ca elevation by TG was evaluated by Ca2+ imaging experiments. Dimethyl sulfoxide and staurosporine were used as a nonreagent control and as an apoptosis-inducing reagent through mitochondria not ER, respectively.
RESULTS. TG-treated ARPE19 cells increased the mRNA expression of Aβ production-inducing APP splice variants and reduced that of neprilysin, a catabolic enzyme for Aβ. TG-treated ARPE19 cells produced increases in VEGF, TNF-
, TACE mRNA, and VEGF protein expressions and a decrease in PEDF mRNA expression. TG-treated ARPE19 cells induced the expression of active more than TM-treated casepase-4. The intracellular Ca concentration was elevated in only TG-treated ARPE19 cells.
CONCLUSIONS. TG-treated ARPE19 cells showed both Aβ accumulation-inducible and angiogenic factor mRNA expression patterns. This study suggests the possibility that ER stress through ER calcium disruption may induce the expression not only of Aβ deposit-promoting factors but also angiogenic factors in the retinal pigment epithelium.
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