Proteomic analysis of cultured astrocytes stimulated with bafilomycin A1

Abstract

Astrocytes play various kinds of important roles in such as regulation of neuronal impulse in synapses and maintenance of homeostasis of neurons. Bafilomycin A1, a macrolide antibiotic, reacts to an astrocyte as a specific inhibitor of vacuolar type H(+) pump (V-ATPase) and exert lots of function of astrocytes. Although a bafilomycin A1 has been reported to stimulate secretion of glial cell line-derived neurotrofic factor (GDNF). However, signal tranduction of Bafilomycin A1 in an astrocyte has been yet not elucidated well. Our focus of interest is to explore the signal pathway of bafilomycin A1 in astrocytes. We performed proteomics of human astrocytes stimulated with bafilomycin A1 using both two-dimensional electrophoresis and tandem-mass spectrometry. We found that expression level of cytoskeletal proteins including both cofillin and vimentin, and stathmin in astrocytes has changed significantly. These observations suggest that bafilomycin A1 may exert the function of cytoskeleton proteins. [J Physiol Sci. 2008;58 Suppl:S150]