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Neuroprotective peptide ADNF-9 in fetal brain of C57BL/6 mice exposed prenatally to alcohol
1 Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH
2 Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
3 Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
4 Department of Chemistry, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH
Journal of Biomedical Science 2011, 18:77 doi:10.1186/1423-0127-18-77Published: 21 October 2011
A derived peptide from activity-dependent neurotrophic factor (ADNF-9) has been shown to be neuroprotective in the fetal alcohol exposure model. We investigated the neuroprotective effects of ADNF-9 against alcohol-induced apoptosis using TUNEL staining. We further characterize in this study the proteomic architecture underlying the role of ADNF-9 against ethanol teratogenesis during early fetal brain development using liquid chromatography in conjunction with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).
Pregnant C57BL/6 mice were exposed from embryonic days 7-13 (E7-E13) to a 25% ethanol-derived calorie [25% EDC, Alcohol (ALC)] diet, a 25% EDC diet simultaneously administered i.p. ADNF-9 (ALC/ADNF-9), or a pair-fed (PF) liquid diet. At E13, fetal brains were collected from 5 dams from each group, weighed, and frozen for LC-MS/MS procedure. Other fetal brains were fixed for TUNEL staining.
Administration of ADNF-9 prevented alcohol-induced reduction in fetal brain weight and alcohol-induced increases in cell death. Moreover, individual fetal brains were analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Statistical differences in the amounts of proteins between the ALC and ALC/ADNF-9 groups resulted in a distinct data-clustering. Significant upregulation of several important proteins involved in brain development were found in the ALC/ADNF-9 group as compared to the ALC group.
These findings provide information on potential mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective effects of ADNF-9 in the fetal alcohol exposure model.