Activity-dependent regulation of nuclear respiratory... : NeuroReport (original) (raw)

VISION, CENTRAL

Activity-dependent regulation of nuclear respiratory factor-1, nuclear respiratory factor-2, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1 in neurons

Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Correspondence and requests for reprints to Margaret Wong-Riley, PhD, Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA

Tel: +1 414 456 8467; fax: +1 414 456 6517; e-mail: [email protected]

Sponsorship: This work was supported by NIH R01 EY05439.

Received 30 December 2005; accepted 13 January 2006

Abstract

Nuclear respiratory factor-1 and nuclear respiratory factor-2 activate the transcription of several respiratory chain enzymes and are prime candidates for bigenomic coordinated regulation of cytochrome oxidase subunit genes from the two genomes. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 is a proposed coactivator of nuclear respiratory factor-1 and nuclear respiratory factor-2-dependent transcription, but its ignificance and function in neurons are unknown. Our current study indicates that nuclear respiratory factor-1, nuclear respiratory factor-2, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1 are expressed in rat visual cortical neurons, and that neuronal activity directly regulates the protein and mRNA expressions of these factors after functional inactivation in vivo and in vitro. Changes in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1 preceded those of nuclear respiratory factor-1 and nuclear respiratory factor-2, suggesting that it may be the prime sensor of neuronal activity and its energy demand.