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There is increasing evidence that proteins normally involved in the cell cycle play a role in the regulation of neuronal apoptotic death following various insults. However, it is not clear if the same mechanisms regulate cell death of oligodendrocytes as well. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of ceramide-induced apoptosis in primary rat oligodendrocytes. We show that ceramide treatment initiates a cascade of biochemical events involving cell cycle regulatory proteins. Although at the time of induction of cell death the oligodendrocytes are postmitotic, activation of c-myc and translocation of Cdc25A into the nucleus can be demonstrated. Of particular interest are the findings of the up-regulation of PCNA and down-regulation of p21WAF1/CIP1protein, an inhibitor of cell-cycle progression. The current results show that activation of regulatory cell-cycle proteins at the oligodendrocytes G1-S checkpoint may constitute a crucial step of the death pathway of oligodendrocytes.

Galactocerebrosidase (GALC) is deficient in all tissues from human patients and animal models with globoid cell leukodystrophy (GLD) or Krabbe disease. The deficiency results in decreased lysosomal catabolism of certain galactolipids including galactosylceramide and psychosine that are synthesized maximally during myelination. According to current theories, the accumulation of psychosine in humans and animals with GLD induces oligodendrocyte degeneration and myelination ceases. Transduction of oligodendrocytes from twitcher mice with a retroviral vector containing the GALC cDNA can correct the enzyme deficiency in these cells. Our data show that twitcher astrocytes and oligodendrocytes can internalize exogenous GALC, as well as donate the enzyme to the mutant glial cells. Antibodies against human GALC localized the GALC antigen in retrovirally transduced cells and cells receiving enzyme via cell to cell secretion and uptake to the lysosomal fraction. In fact immunocytochemical studies in transduced oligodendrocytes revealed that the GALC colocalizes in vesicles lysosomal-associated membrane protein-2 (LAMP2) (+). Moreover, labeling cells with anti-GALC and a marker for oligodendrocytes demonstrated that, upon differentiation, transduced, twitcher oligodendrocytes attained the normal branched process configuration, while untransduced cells show only abnormal morphology. Phenotype correction in mutant oligodendrocytes has also been observed after enzyme transfer. These studies indicate that GALC activity supplied to cultured oligodendrocytes from twitcher mice by different methods can correct the pathological phenotype of these cells.

The RT-PCR analysis of RNA from progenitor and differentiated primary rat oligodendrocytes, and from the oligodendrocyte CG-4 cell line, shows the presence of the IL-1β mRNA, the type I IL-1 receptor and the IL-1 receptor accessory protein in these cells. In situhybridization of a rat IL-1β probe to primary progenitor and differentiated rat oligodendrocytes results in a positive signal. The double hybridization of the IL-1β probe, together with an oligodendrocyte-specific differentiation marker, to sections of postnatal rat brain at different stages of differentiation is also positive. The double immuno-labelling technique utilized indicates coincidence of the signals on the brain slices. The results show that IL-1β mRNA is constitutively expressed in rat brain oligodendrocytes from 1 day after birth onward. In agreement with this observation, CG-4 cells, primary progenitor and differentiated rat oligodendrocytes are positively stained by antibodies against IL-1β. Postnatal brain slices from 1 and 4 day old and adult rats, labelled with a double immunofluorescence technique, are also stained by antibodies against IL-1β. This signal coincides with that of antibodies against oligodendrocyte-specific surface markers. We conclude that IL-1β is constitutively expressed in rat brain progenitor and differentiated oligodendrocytes.

Localization of the follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH) molecule and its receptor (FSHR), as well as the role of FSH in Sertoli cell mitosis and maturation, has been demonstrated by several investigators in human and murine testis by detecting the localization of anti‐FSH antibodies or [131I]‐labeled FSH and by detecting FSH receptor (FSHR) mRNA by in situ hybridization, or FSHR by anti‐FSHR antibodies. The presence of FSH in germinal cells is controversial or, in humans, excluded. We have investigated the distribution of the human FSH molecule and its receptor in human and mouse testicular cells under different experimental conditions, at the submicroscopical level, by using a better antigenicity conservative procedure. Thus, the distribution of FSH and of the messenger RNA for its receptor in Sertoli cells has now been clarified. In germinal cells, our observations demonstrate the presence of FSH and the FSHR mRNA: the first on the plasma membrane and in endocytotic vesicles, and the second scattered in the cytoplasm. The cells presenting the higher amount of positivity ranged from spermatogonia to spermatocytes, including round spermatids. Penetration was by the endocytosis via membrane vesicles in which the FSHR is present, whereas its messenger is largely present in the cytoplasm and is responsible for the binding and subsequent internalization of the FSH molecule. As a control, human FSH was administered in vitro to the Y1 mouse cell line, which was stably transfected with cDNA for FSHR and devoid of endogenous FSH. The FSH molecule has been localized by monoclonal antibodies on plasma membranes and vesicles, and the FSHR mRNA was found scattered in the cytoplasm after in situ hybridization. We can now conclude that FSH is present in Sertoli cells and in round germinal cells, both expressing the FSHR. FSH penetrates in a similar way in both kinds of cells via endocytosis, and is therefore subsequently localized in the same membranous organelles.—Baccetti, B., Collodel, G., Costantino‐Ceccarini, E., Eshkol, A., Gambera, L., Moretti, E., Strazza, M., Piomboni, P. Localization of human FSH in the testis. FASEB J.12, 1045–1054 (1998)

We investigated the subcellular distribution of S-100b protein in primary cultures of Schwann cells. The subcellular localization of the protein in cells fixed and then permeabilized is similar, if not identical, to that seen in Schwann cells in peripheral nerves, i.e., S-100b protein is found in the cytoplasm and associated with membranes and filamentous structures. In cells either fixed in the presence of Triton X-100 or exposed to Triton X-100 for a short time before fixation (Triton cytoskeletons), the immune reaction product is considerably less intense, and the protein is associated with filaments running parallel to the long axis of the cell as well as in a submembranous position. Including CaCl2 in the buffer during fixation in the presence of Triton X-100 does not result in any increase in the intensity of the immune reaction product in Triton cytoskeletons, suggesting that, within the limits of the technique employed, no binding of additional S-100b protein to the Triton X-100-resistant material can be induced. On the other hand, including EGTA results in a substantial decrease in the intensity of the immune reaction product in Triton cytoskeletons. Altogether, these findings suggest that a remarkable fraction of S-100b protein in cultured Schwann cells is associated with elements of the cytoskeleton and that Ca2+ exerts some regulatory role in the association of S-100b protein with the cytoskeleton.

A plasma membrane fraction of HeLa S3 cells, consisting of ghosts, is characterized more fully. A simple procedure is described which permits light and electron microscope study of the plasma membrane fraction through the entire depth of the final product pellet and through large areas parallel to the surface. Contamination by nuclei is 0.14%, too little for DNA detection by the diphenylamine reaction. Contamination by rough endoplasmic reticulum and ribosomes is small, a single ghost containing about 3% of the RNA in a single cell. Mitochondria were not encountered. Electron microscopy also shows (a) small vesicles associated with the outer surface of the ghosts, and (b) a filamentous web at the inner face of the ghost membrane. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel analysis shows that of the many Coomassie Blue-stained bands two were prominent. One, 43,000 daltons, co-migrated with purified rabbit muscle actin and constituted about 7.5% of the plasma membrane protein. The other major band, 34,000 daltons, was concentrated in the plasma membrane fraction. Two major glycoproteins detected by autoradiography of [14C]fucose-labeled glycoproteins on the gels, had apparent molecular weights of 35,000 daltons and 32,000 daltons. These major bands did not stain with Coomassie Blue. There were many other minor glycoprotein bands in the 200,000- to 80,000-dalton range. Ouabain-sensitive, Na+, K+-adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity of the ghost fraction is purified 9.1 (+/- 2.2) times over the homogenate; recover of the activity is 12.0 (+/- 3.8%) of the homogenate. Enrichment and recovery of fucosylglycoprotein parallel those for ouabain-sensitive Na+, K+-ATPase activity. Fucosyl glycoprotein is recovered more than the enzyme activity in a smooth membrane vesicle fraction probably containing the bulk of plasma membrane not recovered as ghosts.